


turn the timeless page

by stcrdust



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Denial of Feelings, Friends to Lovers, Libraries, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Missing Persons, Quests, Slow Burn, jisung is simply confused but he's doing his best, renjun avoids his feelings a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:47:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28539822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stcrdust/pseuds/stcrdust
Summary: Renjun's comfortable life at Camp Half-Blood is flipped upside down when a certain Jisung Park quite literally comes tumbling into his life. He falls more and more for him the more that he talks to him, but does everything in his power to avoid his feelings. There's not much he can do when he's put on a quest and sent across the East Coast with him, though—and Renjun is faced with the challenge of figuring out his growing feelings for Jisung while also dealing with a prophecy, his fate, and returning home safely.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Park Jisung
Comments: 10
Kudos: 56
Collections: the rensung files





	1. home

**Author's Note:**

> this work was written for prompt #RS022!
> 
> a thousand thank yous to my beta for dealing with my struggles, my 5 am screaming, and my large amount of procrastinating, and a thousand more thank yous to the rensung fest mods who were so understanding in giving me time to finish this fic! 
> 
> to my prompter, if you're out there: i really hope you like this fic! i pretty much took this prompt and ran with it, but i do sincerely hope it's as fun to read as it was fun for me to write! to everyone else, please enjoy! <3

Renjun’s experience finding Camp Half-Blood went a little bit like this. 

After being recruited for a so-called summer camp in Jilin, his father had strongly insisted that he move to New York for it, practically shoving a suitcase in his arms and seeming quite enthusiastic about his 16-year-old son flying thousands of miles to a country he barely knew anything about, that spoke in a language he barely spoke.

Nonetheless, within a few weeks, Renjun was hugging his dad goodbye, his life in China packed into two checked-in suitcases, a carry-on duffel, and a Moomin plushie that he held tightly onto as he stood in the airport terminal, awaiting his boarding time. He was clad in a dark hoodie, his duffel bag holding his laptop with all of his writing collections and essays that he’d have to write when he landed. 

“Ah, my little Jun… I’ve raised you so well, I know you will fly high in New York,” his dad said with a trembling voice between sniffles, wiping faux tears from his eyes.

“Well, of course I’m going to be flying high Papa, I’m going to be in a plane.” Renjun rolled his eyes, but was beginning to feel the melancholy that came with having to leave the only parent figure that you had lived with behind.

“I meant metaphorically, son. Anyway, I want you to have this.” Renjun’s father pulled out a small necklace from his jacket pocket, lifting Renjun’s hand and gently dropping it in his palm. Renjun looked at his outstretched palm and examined the necklace in it—the chain was made of silver, with a small owl charm attached to it.

“Why are you giving this to me…?” Renjun looked up at his father with an expression of confusion written over his face. The question came out a bit more blunt than intended, but honesty was something Renjun valued more than anything, and as such, his words tended to ring true to his thoughts.

“It was your mother’s,” his father replied, smiling and ruffling Renjun’s hair when his eyes began to widen, gaze darting between him and the necklace. “I know we didn’t talk much about her… Maybe you’ll find more about her there, hm?”

“What? How would I do that at a summer camp?” Renjun readied a barrage of questions for his father, only to be interrupted by the announcement that they were now going to begin boarding the first section of his flight. His father took a deep breath and looked at Renjun one more time, a smile creasing his eyes behind round-frame glasses, his gaze holding something more, as though he knew something Renjun didn’t.

“There’s your section. You’ll be safe there, _baobei_ , promise. I love you.” Those were the last words Renjun’s father spoke to him before pushing him in the direction of the boarding line. Renjun looked back at the kind-hearted father who had raised him for 16 years one last time, his heart feeling a bit heavier as he walked to get in line. 

+

One very long flight later, Renjun found himself startled awake by the ding of the intercom, announcing that they would be landing in the JFK airport, repeating the same message but in English this time. He looked down at his fastened seat belt, then glanced at the untouched cup of water he’d requested sometime in the middle of the flight before he had fallen asleep. He gulped the water down, then took a deep breath and gripped the arms of his seat.

The landing had been smooth after the initial bump, much to Renjun’s pleasure, and soon enough, people were groggily gathering their belongings and making their way off the plane, Renjun included. He had run a million possibilities and plans through his mind during the duration of the flight as to how he would make it over to the address listed on the bottom of the brochure that had been shoved into his hands so many weeks ago.

The current plan was to make his way to the baggage claim, get his suitcases, scrape together the English skills he had to navigate the airport and make his way over to where the taxis were, show them the address to the strawberry farms, and he’d be on his way. He was just beginning to wonder how he’d talk to the people who ran the camp when a voice called his name, unfamiliar, but loud and clear in the busy buzz of the airport. 

When Renjun looked ahead, he saw two, yet again, unfamiliar figures standing in the midst of the crowd, holding a small sign with Renjun’s name written both in romanized letters and in Mandarin. The person holding the sign seemed almost angelic, to an extent, silver hair framing his face perfectly, his expression bubbly and gentle as he waved at Renjun. The person next to him seemed equally as beautiful and angelic, with glasses that sat on the bridge of his nose and jet black hair swept in different directions, just like the waves of the ocean. 

“You _are_ Huang Renjun, correct?” The one with glasses asked in perfect Mandarin, much to Renjun’s surprise when he approached. Renjun blinked as he stood in front of the two (insanely gorgeous) men, but nodded quickly as he looked behind them at the conveyor belt of the baggage claim that had just started to move.

“That’s me… Are you guys with Delphi Strawberry Service…?” Renjun said hesitantly in Mandarin as a reply. The one in silver hair looked at the one in glasses, who then said something in English, to which Renjun simply assumed that he was translating for the other. The angelic silver-haired one nodded excitedly, and the two stepped aside so they could join Renjun at his side as they made their way over to the baggage claim.

“Sorry that I don’t speak Mandarin… Minghao brought me along with him because I apparently am ‘shaped like a friend’...?” The glasses-boy, Minghao, smiled and waved, his smile friendly as the three stopped in front of the conveyor belt, where many people were waiting for their suitcase to show up among the ones that were currently making their way around the belt. “But anyway, I’m Joshua, it’s really nice to meet you.”

“And I’m Minghao!” Minghao piped up from beside Renjun, looking down at him with a smile. “We’re going to be showing you to the summer camp and letting you know of… a couple things on the way there. You’ll definitely get acquainted in no time, and you’ll get to meet the camp’s director and everyone else!” 

“Sounds good…” Renjun replied distractedly, neck craning to look at the belt for his familiar red suitcases, hand reaching into his jacket pocket to grab at the necklace his father had given to him just 14 hours ago. Jet lag was beginning to overtake his body, and fatigue had begun to set into his bones, and it was suddenly much more difficult to keep his eyes open.

“You must be tired…” Joshua mused as he looked over at the line of suitcases and bags making their rounds, watching Renjun yawn, hand held over his mouth as he finally spotted one of his red suitcases coming around the corner, quickly making his way over to it and attempting to grab it from the belt. 

His efforts were futile, however, but with Minghao’s help, he was able to get it off the belt and onto the ground. Renjun nodded gratefully at Minghao, to which Minghao replied with a sweet smile, then turned to look for Joshua, who was currently holding Renjun’s second suitcase with a questioning look. Renjun nodded and gave him a thumbs up, letting him know it was his, and the trio were on their way to the parking lot.

After a 20 minute journey of walking up stairs, through lines of cars, Joshua forgetting which floor his car was on and Minghao pouting and commenting on how much of a walk it was, they had finally piled into his car, Renjun’s suitcases and duffel bag stuffed into the trunk, Moomin plushie safely in Minghao’s arms. 

“Can I have my plushie back?” Renjun mumbled sleepily, making grabby hands in Minghao’s direction. Minghao looked back, chuckling softly before placing it in Renjun’s grasp. He took it and hugged it, watching Joshua back out of his parking lot spot and exiting the garage. He blinked and suddenly processed the fact that two very handsome men were currently driving him to a place that he had never been to before, of which they had no solid credibility.

“So just to be sure…” Renjun began, nervously clutching at his Moomin plushie. “You guys are… actually with the Delphi Strawberry Service summer camp, right…? Like, you guys aren’t kidnapping me or anything…?” Minghao looked back at Renjun, then at Joshua, who had glanced at Renjun through his rearview mirror. He took a deep breath, like he was preparing himself for a big speech, then looked back at the younger boy, who was looking between the two nervously. 

“No kidnapping is being done here, don’t worry. I’m not sure if we’re capable of that, in all honesty…” Minghao said with a chuckle, watching Joshua pull onto the road, beginning their trip to the camp. From what Renjun remembered, the drive from the airport to Long Island would take at least 30 minutes, which left plenty of time for the three to get acquainted (or for Renjun to formulate a plan to escape. Just in case.) He sat back and tilted his head in question as Minghao continued to talk.

“This summer camp, see… Its name isn’t what it is on the brochure you saw a few weeks ago. It also isn’t just a place where you like, pick strawberries. That isn’t all we do, trust me.”

Renjun raised an eyebrow, then dug around in his pockets to look for the brochure that he’d seen so long ago. “Well… I didn’t expect it to be only strawberry picking after all… I expected some campfires and friendship exercises in the midst of it all. That’s what happens at summer camps, right? I’ve never been, so.”

“Yeah, sort of…” Minghao replied, a hand moving to scratch at his hair. “There’s definitely campfires and friendship exercises, but more importantly… Can you take a look at the brochure now, Renjun?”

When Renjun looked down at the brochure, there were no more cute strawberries and pink hearts printed on the paper, and there was no longer an image of a woman looking at the camera while standing in the middle of a strawberry field with a basket of picked strawberries and a big smile. Instead, printed in Greek that Renjun was shocked he could read, were the words _Camp Half-Blood_ , and what seemed to be a collection of gods and goddesses on the top of the front page, with smaller figures at the bottom clad in orange shirts raising their weapons.

“Camp Half-Blood?” Renjun flipped the brochure around and checked all of the pages to make sure he wasn’t simply hallucinating the cover that had magically changed within the span of a few seconds, but sure enough, even the inside pages were full of information about this so-called Camp Half-Blood, with words like demigod and ancestry popping out on the page and making his head spin. “How did it… do that?”

“Ah… It’s a simple trick of the Mist, that’s all,” Minghao commented in a matter-of-factly tone while Renjun gawked at him, hands practically wrinkling the paper of the brochure from how hard he was clutching at it. “It’s normal to be confused about this kind of stuff… Which is usually why they send me and Joshua to deliver the news to demigods we reach out to in other countries! We’re quite gentle about the news.”

“ _Gentle_? ...The news?” Renjun felt as though he were going to regret asking.

“Ah, yeah… You’re a demigod, Renjun. Your mother… she’s a goddess.”

+

The rest of the trip was a blur as Minghao continued to explain that everyone at Camp Half Blood was either a demigod or a nature spirit, including himself and Joshua, the two being a water nymph and an air nymph respectively. Renjun simply listened in silence, his Moomin plushie and the Camp Half-Blood brochure now forgotten next to him on the seat.

Renjun’s mother being a goddess explained a lot, really. The vagueness of his father’s stories about her, the way he never said her name or said a thing about her as he grew up, and her complete absence from Renjun’s life in general. The only things Renjun knew about his mother, currently, was that she was strong, wise, and that she apparently had an owl necklace.

It was only when the strawberry fields came into view that Minghao finally finished explaining everything, from the way kids at the camp were separated into cabins according to their godly parent, to the way Renjun would know who his mother was once she “claimed” him, a process in which a godly parent acknowledged their child by projecting their symbol of power over their head. He stared ahead at the wide expanse of green and red, imagining and wondering just _who_ his mother could be, and what sort of person she was. 

“When do they usually claim you?” Renjun had asked after ages of silence and listening, looking at Minghao who was observing his expressions carefully.

Minghao shrugged. “It usually happens within your first week at camp, though it could take longer. More often than not, it happens when we hold our campfires… Though it can happen other times too.”

“Ah,” Renjun sighed out simply, gaze returning out the window, where they were beginning to approach a seemingly large hill. 

+

It was an understatement to say that Renjun was nervous as Joshua and Minghao made the trek up Half-Blood Hill, as Joshua had called it, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder and his plushie tucked under his arm. The other two were each carrying one of Renjun’s suitcases respectively, lugging them up the hill almost effortlessly. They seemed to be a lot stronger than they let on, Renjun thought to himself.

Upon getting to the top of the hill, there was an entire world laid out ahead of Renjun, and it made him wonder how the camp could all fit on this small corner of Long Island in the first place. Standing tall in front of him was an entrance made of marble, with trees that surrounded what seemed to be the border of the camp. When the trio stepped beyond the marble frame at the top of the hill, Renjun could see kids short and tall, old and young all walking around engaging in various activities, from swordfighting to archery to simply talking amongst themselves at benches. 

There was a distinct feeling that hung in the air and wrapped itself around Renjun, one he didn’t think he’d feel so far away from Jilin, thousands of miles away from the singular place he’d lived for all of his life.

It was the feeling of home.


	2. safe

The first few nights at Camp Half Blood went smoothly enough for Renjun.

He had ultimately chosen not to attend the first campfire that was set to begin just hours after Renjun had arrived, opting instead to talk longer with the camp’s activities director, Chiron, whose lower half was that of a white stallion (Renjun had gotten over his initial shock rather quickly, knowing he’d probably have to get used to the existence of many mythological creatures like centaurs if he was going to stay here long-term.) The two had talked until sundown about Greek mythology, and Chiron had made sure to get him acquainted with the different locations at camp as the two walked and talked.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join tonight’s campfire? There is a chance your mother will come to claim you.” Chiron’s voice was gentle, a guiding light in the whirlwind of darkness that had surrounded Renjun due to the sun going down. Thankfully, campers were beginning to light torches, and the distant light of the large campfire produced a warm glow Renjun could pinpoint from where he was standing.

“I do apologize, but I am quite tired from the long trip…” Renjun said with an apologetic gaze, glancing over at the bags placed on the porch of the Big House, knowing he’d have to get settled somewhere.

“Oh, it’s quite alright. I do hope that you’ll join tomorrow night’s however.” Chiron smiled, then looked across at the campers making their way to the campfire, scanning over the crowd. “Now, let me see here… Yangyang! Come here for a moment, would you?” Almost immediately, a boy in the crowd swiveled his head around, searching for the source of Chiron’s voice, hurrying over when he spotted Chiron’s unmistakeable form that stood tall above everyone else.

“Mister Chiron! What did you need from me?” The boy, presumably Yangyang, seemed quite peppy as he bounced from foot to foot, eyes bright as he glanced curiously over at Renjun for a few moments, then back up at Chiron.

“I’d like you to guide Renjun over to the Hermes cabin, if possible. Perhaps show him around a bit more than I did tomorrow morning? I trust that he’ll be safe in your hands,” Chiron nodded at Yangyang, who nodded back, then turned to Renjun as Chiron placed a hand on his shoulder. “This is Liu Yangyang, a son of Hermes, and he’ll be taking you to the Hermes cabin, which is where our unclaimed demigods stay until their godly parent claims them. He’ll be taking care of you for now, but let me know if any issues come up.”

“Don’t worry Chiron, there won’t be any issues at all!” Yangyang commented, slinging an arm around Renjun as he headed over to the porch with him in tow, carrying one of Renjun’s suitcases with his free hand like it was no big deal. Renjun pulled away to grab his other suitcase and his carry-on duffel, his trusty Moomin plushie safely strapped to the side. 

“Hi. I’m Renjun…” Renjun managed quietly in English as the two departed from the Big House, his two suitcases safely in the hands of himself and Yangyang.

“I’m Yangyang, but you already know that! Don’t worry about speaking in English to me, by the way, I can speak in Mandarin too, if that’s more comfortable for you! Your English skills will definitely get better the longer you stay here, though. I can definitely verify!” Yangyang seemed to grow more excited the more he spoke, talking confidently in Mandarin as he glanced at Renjun with a friendly grin, his eyes sparkling with somewhat of a mischievous glint. 

They arrived at the Hermes cabin in no time, passing by many other cabins that Yangyang pointed out. There were very few campers in the cabins area, as most of them were out attending the fire, which made Renjun’s trek go quite smoothly.

“Sorry to pull you away from the campfire,” Renjun whispered as Yangyang opened the door to the cabin, not wanting to disturb anyone who might be sleeping inside. 

“You’re totally fine,” Yangyang replied as he set Renjun’s bag down next to what appeared to be an empty bed. Renjun nearly leapt onto the bed, ready to succumb to the clutches of a comfortable rest, when Yangyang placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “Hold on.” He slipped a hand under the cover and pulled out a whoopie cushion, rolling his eyes and tossing it onto another bed. “Sorry, my brothers like to play pranks on newbies sometimes.”

Renjun slowly nodded as he looked at Yangyang, then carefully set his bags on the bed, finally letting himself collapse into the fresh white sheets. He glanced to his side and saw Yangyang settling into the bed next to him, and on the desk between them sat various pieces of jewelry and photos.

“Do you have a lot of friends here?” Renjun questioned as he laid on his side, taking off his shoes and wiggling under the sheets, his eyelids growing heavier from the exhaustion of jet lag and the sheer amount of overwhelming news he’d received during the day.

“Yeah,” Yangyang nodded, smiling as he looked behind him at the photos plastered above the headboard of his bed. “You can totally be one of them, if you want. If you need help with anything—studying English, getting to know the camp, making friends, whatever—I’ll be here, even when you get claimed and have to move out!” He grinned over at Renjun, a genuine light sparkling in his eyes as he too slipped under the covers. Renjun couldn’t help but smile back, Yangyang’s grin growing more contagious the longer he looked at it.

“Well… If you don’t mind, then I’ll gladly accept your help and your friendship. Thank you, Yangyang.” With that, he pulled the covers over himself and descended into a world of sleep and rest, finally succumbing to the tiring events of the day and the soft covers that seemed to have been awaiting him since the beginning.

+

And just like that, Liu Yangyang became Renjun’s first friend at Camp Half-Blood. The next day, he not only walked Renjun through the day’s activities, which included but were not limited to archery practice, training for sword fights, climbing the rock wall, and other such intense activities, but also accompanied him through breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even the evening’s campfire.

Yangyang could only watch proudly with a wild round of soft clapping as the glowing, grey symbol of an owl appeared over Renjun’s head, everyone watching in awe as Renjun made the decision of standing up, looking around at all the eyes that were currently glued to the symbol above his head. Renjun was slightly thankful that the symbol was situated above him, because he wasn’t sure he would have been able to handle eye contact from however many people were attending the campfire.

“Huang Renjun, son of Athena, goddess of wisdom, strategy, and craft. We welcome you.” Chiron’s voice rang definitively through the air, a sign of what was to come as he gestured to the newly claimed child of Athena. A group of people, seemingly fellow half-siblings, looked at him with hopeful and excited eyes. “We hope that you will find a home in Cabin Six.”

Renjun took a deep breath and stepped in the direction of where the other Athena children were beckoning him over, hoping the symbol had disappeared by the time he sat on the bench next to a girl who quietly introduced herself as Tzuyu. He nodded in acknowledgement as the campfire returned to its usual announcements, letting his thoughts drift into the clouds as the night went on, the fire crackling warmly as Renjun pondered finally knowing the identity of his ever-so-elusive mother.

_“So Athena is my mom…”_ Renjun thought to himself as the campfire ended, moving his stuff from the Hermes cabin, waving to Yangyang as he walked a few cabins down, stopping in front of the grey cabin with an owl carved into the front—which would be his true new home. He pushed open the door and entered quietly, knowing that everyone else was preparing for bed. _“I wonder how often she talks to her other kids.”_ He continued to think as he looked around for an empty bed, turning to look at an older camper that was approaching him.

“Huang Renjun, correct? I’m Kim Doyoung, your head counselor.” Doyoung wore a serious expression on his face, but his eyes sparkled with natural curiosity as Renjun looked up at him. “Welcome to the Athena cabin. I hope that you’ll find a home among us here. If you have any questions, you can ask me, but workshop tables are all over there, yes, it is always going to be a mess, and the library is through the door that way.”

“Library?” Renjun asked, interest suddenly piqued as his head swiveled around to look at the dark grey door near the back of the main room of the cabin.

“Yes, would you like me to give you a tour? I know it’s a bit late and I assume you want to get to sleep, but—”

“Can you show me around the library?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

Maybe sleeping wouldn’t happen tonight, Renjun thought as he practically threw his bags on his designated bunk bed and skipped in the direction of the library, Doyoung following closely behind with a gentle smile. Maybe, just maybe, he truly would find his home here at Camp Half-Blood.

+

Yangyang and Renjun were deemed inseparable after a week, with Yangyang even breaking the rules to sit at the Athena cabin’s lunch table, much to almost everyone at the Athena table’s dismay. The two trained together, climbed the rock wall together, even picked strawberries after curfew together. And it was inevitable that Yangyang’s friends would meet Renjun at some point, even if their cabins were far across the field.

The first that approached him after Yangyang was a gorgeous boy, his eyes sparkling with a stunning, almost mesmerizing sort of gaze, as though he saw the world through rose-tinted lenses. He smiled like he was the sun as he plopped himself into the seat in front of Renjun, and Renjun looked up from his book to look at the pink-haired boy with shimmering eyes and a dazzling smile in front of him.

“Hey there. You’re the new Athena kid, right?” Mystery Boy held his hand out, a gesture that made Renjun freeze in his spot as he continued to look over at the beautiful boy, looking between his hand and his face with parted lips, because how could someone be _that_ perfect?

“I… uh… Yes,” Renjun mumbled the bare minimum of a response, reaching out to shake the other’s hand firmly. 

“Lovely! Na Jaemin, son of Aphrodite,” Jaemin replied, pearly whites on display as he grinned wider, shaking Renjun’s hand and pulling back. Renjun could practically feel his cheeks heat up as he buried his face back in his book, eyes glancing up at Jaemin as he continued to talk. “Yangyang told me a lot of things about you, and I really just couldn’t help my curiosity, if you catch my drift?” He winked, chuckling when Renjun rolled his eyes and continued to bury his face in his book.

“I sure do hope Yangyang wasn’t shittalking me,” Renjun said, setting his book down as Jaemin laughed even more, seeming to look behind Renjun, clapping his hands together in what seemed to be amusement.

“What makes you think I was shittalking you?” Yangyang suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, making Renjun jump as he took a seat next to him. “Oh, right. This is Jaemin, my friend, but like, who doesn’t know Jaemin, I guess.”

“Him being a son of Aphrodite makes a lot of sense.” Renjun picked his pen up from the table and tapped it against his chin, opening up his journal to a sketch of a shield as he lined over the pencil strokes, seeming to absorb himself in it as Jaemin tilted his head.

“Hm, you think so~? I think you being cute makes a ton of sense too!”

“Yah, stop flirting with all of my friends!” Yangyang playfully teased with a laugh, reaching over the table to smack his arm. “I swear, you’re ridiculous.”

“But you love me anyway.”

“Nuh uh, no way.”

“Yes way!”

“No!”

Renjun smiled as the two bickered, continuing to line his shield design as he listened closely, happy with the prospect of possible new friends coming his way.

+

While Jaemin was the first of Yangyang’s friends to approach Renjun, he certainly was not the last.

He just so happened to run into the second during one of the weekly sword fighting tournaments, when Renjun was slashing his way through the paired matches, moving up in the brackets until somehow, he suddenly found himself at the top. Even after barely two weeks of being at the camp, Renjun’s senses felt sharpened, hardened by battle, always able to quickly formulate strategies in his head despite having never been in actual battle, save for the occasional scuffles during capture-the-flag. He chalked it up to his heritage, knowing his mother was the goddess of battle strategy, so having a natural instinct to be skilled in battle was likely one of his “powers” he had just so happened to inherit.

He adjusted his armor as he looked across to the other side of the arena, where his final opponent was preparing to fight. He knew his opponent slightly well—Lee Jeno was always a talking topic of the camp when it came to battling him. He had a winning streak totaling to around a year so far, with no one even getting close to winning against the son of Ares for the entire duration of that time. He was a seasoned camper, and Renjun had no idea how exactly he was going to win against him during the tournament, or even how he had gotten this far in the first place.

Nonetheless, Renjun took a deep breath and walked to the center of the arena, Lee Jeno looking back at him as he walked to the center with a glint in his eye and a smile just barely curling at his lips. He held his sword with one hand and pointed the blade at Renjun, and Renjun did the same, looking into his eyes as the two crossed blades and prepared themselves for the beginning of the match.

In Jeno’s eyes, past the gaze that was hardened by a countless amount of training, he found gentleness. He found softness in Jeno as the two collided swords, Renjun backing up as Jeno struck Renjun’s blade, powerful but still holding a smidge of hesitation as he looked down upon Renjun.

Jeno was terrifying, but Renjun could see behind the aura of Ares that surrounded him in the fight. He could see the Jeno that Yangyang had briefly mentioned in passing conversations, and from even those quickly spoken words, Renjun could get to know his opponent.

Getting to know his opponent was 50% of the match for Renjun.

The two exchanged blows, and the match continued for some time. Renjun was not superior to Jeno in any way, and he was completely aware of the other’s strength and stamina, but he knew he had to prolong the match as long as possible if he even wanted a chance of beating the other. 

_Tire him out, tire him out,_ he repeated in his head over and over in his head as he parried all of Jeno’s blows, and even avoided his kick to the solar plexus as he carefully, but quickly stepped out of the way. Jeno was quick and nimble, but Renjun was quicker. He finally, finally prepared his counterattack as he tilted his head up, catching up with his breath as he watched Jeno do the same. 

_Now._

Renjun lunged in Jeno’s direction, but instead of lifting his sword up, and striking at him, he sidestepped, quick as a rabbit, and hooked his leg behind Jeno’s, and he swore he could hear the entire audience around them gasping as the other hit the ground with a _thud_. Renjun smiled and prepared to claim his victory, but absolutely did not anticipate Jeno rolling up from the ground, as quick as he had fallen.

Renjun could not avoid Jeno’s swift move to knock his sword out of his hand and him down to the ground, but the other held onto him before his back could make contact with the dirt. He looked up at Jeno, and found that he was looking down at him with the gentleness he had seen behind his concentrated gaze in the first half of the match. Renjun sighed and lifted his hands in surrender, earning lots of cheering and whooping from the audience as the match officially ended, and Jeno’s fist was raised victoriously in the air.

Renjun was busying himself, hanging all of his armor back in the armory when he heard the clang of knocking on the metal door to the armory. He turned to see Lee Jeno himself standing in the doorway, a full smile now set on his expression as he walked in and placed his armor in its rightful places as well.

“Good match today,” Jeno commented, holding a hand out to Renjun. “I know you know me, and I know you, but why don’t we shake on it? I haven’t fought a match that good in _weeks_ , and knowing you’re still a newbie? Holy shit, I’m breathless.” He whistled, then chuckled softly as Renjun took his hand and shook it firmly, retracting his hand into his pocket.

“I can sense that you aren’t like the other scary Ares kids.” Renjun replied simply as he got to work organizing all of the other armor that had been haphazardly thrown onto the floor by other campers. Jeno picked up a few pieces, helping out Renjun as he threw gloves on the floor into one of the bins.

“I guess I’m not,” Jeno responded, laughing as he took the chestplate in Renjun’s hands and moved to hang it up on the highest hook, where Renjun likely couldn’t reach. “I could tell you were analyzing the hell out of me in that battle. That, or you just really liked how I look!”

“I assure you, it’s the former.” Renjun dusted his hands off as he finished putting away the last shield, placing his hands on his hips and watching as Jeno carried the bin of gloves to the back of the small armory.

“You’d be surprised how often I get both,” Jeno said with a smile as he looked at Renjun standing in the doorway, watching as he just barely chuckled and waved at Jeno before turning to leave and walk back to his cabin.

“Goodnight, Lee Jeno.”

+

The third of Yangyang’s friends came running to him and screaming his name the day after the swordfighting match as he was walking to the amphitheater, nose stuffed into a book as he absorbed himself in the world of words.

“Renjun! Huang Renjun!! RENJUN!!! Is that even your name?!” Rapid, approaching footsteps that grew closer quickly snapped Renjun out of his reading daze, and he turned around, nearly colliding with a face full of orange hair as he yelped and sidestepped the boy running at him.

“Holy shit, are you hard to find!” The boy finally slowed down and turned to Renjun, out of breath as he placed his hands on his knees and wheezed for air. Renjun simply stared and watched as the other recovered from what looked like a long session of running, then stood up straight and held a hand out to him.

“Lee Donghyuck, Apollo cabin. Let’s talk.” Renjun had barely taken Donghyuck’s hand when he suddenly grabbed it and dragged Renjun alongside him, thankfully taking him in the direction of the amphitheater. The two sat in a fairly shaded and secluded place, and Renjun set his book down next to him and crossed his legs, tilting his head over at Donghyuck, who was staring back at Renjun with an almost wondrous gaze.

“So… What was so pressing that you simply needed to find me to talk about?” Renjun asked, placing his hands in his lap.

“I wanna know your secret.” Donghyuck replied with a grin, to which Renjun raised a confused eyebrow at. “I was there when you fought Lee Jeno. No one, and I mean nobody has even knocked Jeno off his feet in a super long time. How in the Underworld did you, a newbie, do it?”

“A mix of instinct and wearing out his stamina,” Renjun answered and shrugged like it was the easiest question in the world, picking up his book and opening the page he had bookmarked on the way to the amphitheatre. Donghyuck sat there in silence for a bit, shaking his head when he realized Renjun had nothing else to say.

“You mean to tell me it’s _that_ easy? No way, that can’t be right. He must have been going easy on you, has to be! I’ve been rivals with Jeno for 2 years and yet I haven’t won a single sword fight against him! There’s no way someone who has been here for two weeks can get so close to beating Jeno…” Donghyuck continued to shake his head, almost in disbelief of the fact. 

“I don’t think that Jeno is one to go easy on people,” Renjun replied, turning the page of his book as his eyes darted across the page.

“... You’re right. Which is why you’re going to be my new training partner!” Donghyuck concluded, linking his arm in Renjun’s and consequently disrupting his reading, much to his dismay. “You can teach me your secrets through some good old hands-on experience!”

“And what will I receive in return for this?” Renjun asked, turning to look at Donghyuck as he shut his book and sighed. Donghyuck grinned widely.

“My ever so gracious friendship, along with priority access to all sorts of gossip about my friends—including Yangyang—all around camp! You wouldn’t believe everything I know about Yangyang, Jaemin, and Jen—” He was interrupted by a book to the face.

“I’ll accept, but not because of the gossip. Help me get better at archery, and we have a deal.” Renjun, once again, held his hand out, and Donghyuck took it, no hesitation in his mind as he looked over at Renjun with a determined expression.

“Deal.”

+

Months passed, and the five of them held together a comfortable friendship, with Yangyang poking fun at him, Jaemin non-committedly flirting with him from time to time, Jeno training with him, and Donghyuck practicing archery with him in exchange for tips for fighting against Jeno. The five were often seen together, whether it be swimming at the lake or eating lunch together, perhaps even helping to pick strawberries in the field.

In the autumn, when the trees began to change colors, their leaves dipped in shades of orange, brown, and red as the weeks passed by, Camp Half-Blood got a new camper.

He had brown hair and a bad cold, and everytime he sneezed, flowers sprouted up around him in the ground. He introduced himself as Zhong Chenle, and it was no surprise to anyone who had seen him near any kind of nature that he had been claimed as the son of Demeter the same night during the campfire.

Renjun wasn’t sure what exactly compelled him to approach the boy initially, but here he was, walking up to where Chenle had situated himself in the grass, a collection of flowers in his hands as he weaved them together, creating flower crowns with the simple flourish of his hand. He plopped himself onto the ground next to him, and Chenle looked up, eyes lighting up when Renjun sat cross-legged next to him.

“They tell me you’re fairly new here too,” Chenle commented in Mandarin as he passed a couple of flowers over to Renjun, not even phased by the presence of someone new.

“I came here a few months ago, so yes, pretty new.” Renjun replied as he picked up a few flowers and twirled them by the stem, watching as Chenle finished his first flower crown and turned to Renjun. He placed the crown on his head, and laughed, the sound of his laughter melodic and joyful as he looked at Renjun with bright eyes.

“Wanna be friends?”

And that was how easily Zhong Chenle had weaseled his way into Renjun’s life and friend group, his aura of joy practically contagious as the six of them grew to have smiles all around camp, their friendship cherished in everyone’s hearts.

Little did Renjun know that, soon enough, he would have one more person to truly cherish in his heart—someone that would slowly but surely make his way into all of Renjun’s thoughts.

+

Before Renjun knew it, it had officially marked a year since he had joined the camp, and he now had one clay bead on his camp necklace to indicate it as such. He stared at it as he laid in his bunk bed, the leaf-shaped bead pinched in between his thumb and index finger. He smiled and breathed in, slipping the necklace around his neck and rolling out of bed.

Renjun wasn’t too sure of exactly when he had grown completely accustomed to the environment of Camp Half-Blood. It was probably when he went back home to see his father during the winter, when he realized that the ache in his heart was not because he was home after a long period of being away from it, but because he missed his dear friends who were likely waiting for him back at the camp, sans Yangyang, who had also gone back home for the winter.

He was relieved when he had come back after the new year, embracing all five of his friends tightly and holding onto them as he watched the flowers bloom all around them, Chenle’s expression bright as he allowed all of the flowers near the Demeter cabin to bloom vibrantly and beautifully, even when the hints of summer decided to show themselves.

Renjun looked upon the sea of green with spots of red as he stepped through the rows of strawberries, boots crunching against the dirt as he carefully walked to the end of a row. Oddly enough, the sunshine that had been warm on his back had now dimmed, causing him to look up and notice the now-cloudy sky above him, the clouds churning to make a murky light grey sky. He shrugged and placed his basket down on the ground as he crouched in front of a strawberry plant, figuring he’d get some of them picked before it started to rain.

Sure enough, Renjun felt the telltale drops of rain on the back of his neck, but he didn’t even think to head up the hill until the sound of rumbling thunder made him jump, and he realized a storm was likely brewing above him. Not wanting to get caught outside without even an umbrella to protect him from what was coming, he picked up his basket and stepped down the rows of strawberries, leaping over the plants to get to the edge of the farm, where Half-Blood Hill was awaiting him.

He looked back once more at the strawberry plants, which were now beginning to sway back and forth with the wind that had picked up, but quickly regretted it when a deafening clap of thunder resounded throughout the clouds, and a blinding flash of lightning made him cower back and cover his eyes with an arm. When he retracted his arm, he absolutely was not prepared for the sight in front of him.

A boy now stood among the strawberry plants struggling to hold on in the violent breeze, stumbling over the leaves and trampling whatever happened to be in his path. He seemed to barely be holding onto consciousness as he held onto his head, and Renjun shook himself from his frozen state as he looked upon the boy, his instincts running on overdrive as he dropped his basket and dove in his direction, wrapping his arms around his waist so that he had a secure hold on him.

Immediately, the boy surrendered to unconsciousness in his hold, slumping over and leaving Renjun to bear all of his weight. The boy had stood nearly an entire head taller than Renjun, so it probably made sense that it was ridiculously difficult to carry his weight, but it didn’t stop Renjun from grabbing his arm and wrapping it firmly around his shoulder. 

The boy’s breaths were shallow as Renjun began the trek up Half-Blood Hill, and it was hard to tell what exactly had happened to him from a quick glance, but he noticed that the tips of his hairs were sizzling despite the rain that was beginning to pour down on them. However, how he had fallen unconscious was hardly a concern to him as he dragged him up the hill, his arms aching from carrying what he knew was more that he could handle.

He had one thought on his mind as he did his best to carry him past the camp’s borders, hair and clothes dripping wet as he saw campers approaching in the distance to help carry the boy to the safe clutches of the Big House.

_He’ll be safe now._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a recap for the main cast who have been introduced so far:
> 
> renjun - son of athena  
> yangyang - son of hermes  
> jaemin - son of aphrodite  
> jeno - son of ares  
> donghyuck - son of apollo  
> chenle - son of demeter


	3. pathway

Renjun adjusted the towel on his head, gently rubbing his wet hair with it as he sat in the waiting room outside the infirmary, attempting to peek from time to time to check up on the boy but being stopped everytime by the head medic, Ten from the Apollo cabin, each time. Eventually, though, he was granted access into the infirmary, where Renjun passed rows of cots until he found the familiar face of the boy he had dragged up Half-Blood Hill just an hour or two earlier, sitting up in bed and sipping the cup of nectar he’d been given.

Renjun took a deep breath, not sure why he was so determined to take on the responsibility of getting to know the boy, but nevertheless, here he was, taking a seat on the cot next to the boy and watching as he jumped upon hearing the creak of the frame. He looked at Renjun with wide eyes, setting his nectar down and placing his hands into his lap.

“… Hey. I’m… the one that brought you here. I’m Renjun Huang, Athena cabin. I assume they’ve already told you about this place?” Renjun’s tone was gentle, being careful not to startle the boy as he smiled, finally able to get a good look at him. He had black hair that seemed to be a bit singed at the tips, and a black hoodie that had a few small holes in it. He also had evidently big hands, considering his hand was able to circle the entire glass he had with no problem. 

“Yeah… I had heard about this place, and … I just … I didn’t know where else to go,” the boy responded, scratching his head as he looked down shyly, bunching up the fabric of the blanket between his hands. “I’m Jisung Park, by the way.” He held his hand out for a hand shake, and Renjun tried to ignore the way his hand completely engulfed his own as they shook hands.

“Jisung… Well, it’s nice to meet you. If you need help getting used to camp and all that after you leave the infirmary, I’d definitely be glad to help. I’ve been here around a year now, so I think I know my way around pretty well.” Renjun smiled softly as Jisung slowly nodded in agreement, smiling back over at him in response.

“Yeah, I’d like that…”

+

It didn’t take too long for all of Renjun’s friends to meet Jisung, especially when Jaemin pointed out the fact that Renjun seemed to be quite excited whenever he talked about his latest conversation with him inside the infirmary. The five of them demanded to see him immediately, just to see who exactly Renjun was “so crazed” about, and within mere days, he had been assimilated into their little friend group.

It was quite easy to find Jisung around camp after he got discharged from the infirmary, all healed up and ready to start camp activities. His height made his head of black hair poke up above everyone else’s, and it was common for him to approach Renjun whenever he needed help with something, as he had promised. 

And like he promised, Renjun helped him out where he could. Showing him around the camp, helping him to train in the archery field and the sword fighting arena, showing him their usual lunch-eating and talking spot were just some of the things he did, getting to know Jisung a little more with each hour and minute he spent with him. He learned that Jisung kept a lucky ring that he wore on his left pointer finger, a band of silver with his initials engraved on its inside that he never seemed to take off. 

“I was just… told to never let go of it,” Jisung replied when Jaemin curiously asked about it one day. He twisted it clockwise on his finger as he spoke, an almost subconscious habit he’d happened to pick up.

Strangely enough, Jisung wasn’t claimed during his first campfire at camp. Nor was he claimed during his second, or third. It wasn’t until the camp’s weekly game of Capture the Flag that he was finally claimed, a wave of shock rippling through the entire camp upon the discovery of his godly parent.

It had been a few hours into the game, and Jisung, who was guarding the blue flag, was surrounded by a rather large crowd from a mix of people from the Hephaestus and Apollo cabins, who were on the red team. After a valiant effort to fight them together with his fellow flag guard, he now sat kneeling on the ground, hands buried in the moist dirt that laid near the creek. Just as Wong Yukhei from the Hephaestus cabin was about to grab the red flag from where it had been perched within the pebbles, Jisung decided he wasn’t going down just yet.

Breaths heavy and labored, Jisung looked down at his trembling hands, gaze focused on the ring that shone dimly on his left index finger. He swallowed, deciding he could use his last-resort, his last-ditch effort to try and stop everyone in front of him. 

_“Dad, I don’t know who the heck you are. I don’t know if you’re listening, or if you even care about me, or if you know I exist, but give me just this one thing.”_ Jisung’s thoughts swam in his head as he gritted his teeth and deliberately twisted his ring counter-clockwise, his eyes widening as the ring expanded and became longer until it was a spear that he gripped comfortably in his hand. He gaped down in shock at the spear for a couple of seconds, everyone turning in his direction at the discovery of Jisung’s new magical item, and in the temporary confusion, he decided to strike.

Jumping off the ground, Jisung pushed his way through a few campers and ran straight at Yukhei, an otherworldly force seeming to possess him as he raised his spear and struck the ground. Almost immediately, thunder rumbled above them, and the sun disappeared among the dark clouds that swirled above them, and almost as if someone were watching them up ahead, a bolt of lightning crashed down just in front of Jisung, knocking everyone in the area back several feet onto the ground. 

The campers all rose and stared in shock at Jisung, who was looking down at his ring again with a nearly amazed expression. Everyone was too appalled by the sight they had just seen to care about the flag, and there was an unmistakable discovery that had been uncovered that Friday evening near the forest’s creek.

Jisung Park was the son of Zeus. 

+

Word spread throughout the camp pretty quickly, and though most were initially met with shock, there was also a tinge of wonder instilled within the campers, seeing as there were barely any children of the Big Three at the camp. Yangyang maintained this wonder as they helped Jisung with cleaning and dusting off the Zeus cabin, which seemed to have not been inhabited for at least ten years, considering the amount of dust.

“Jisung, man, it’s so cool that you’re a son of Zeus! I mean, isn’t it cool that you can summon lightning and stuff?” Yangyang’s voice practically echoed through the largely sized cabin, the cabin being one of the biggest in the camp due to Zeus’ status as king of the gods. The seven of them were currently sweeping away at the floor and doing other various cleaning activities, the statue of Zeus looming scarily over all of them as they helped make Jisung’s new home more of a home. “I mean, we haven’t had a Big Three kid since M—”

“We haven’t had a Big Three kid in ages,” Jaemin interrupted quickly, smiling as he dusted off the golden plaque under Zeus’ statue, wiping it down until it shined like fool’s gold. Yangyang looked like he wanted to say something, but simply let it go after looking at Jaemin after a few moments. The cleaning continued in awkward silence, and Renjun couldn’t help but notice that the air inside the cabin had changed. Or maybe that was because Jeno had just flipped over the cushion of the lone chair that sat next to the statue, making him and Chenle sneeze as dust flew into the air.

He didn’t try to question it as he watched Chenle pick up the grass that had somehow fallen from his head when he sneezed. The four that had been here before him, Chenle, and Jisung had been here for years, after all, and Renjun knew that it was better not to step into any sort of history he didn’t know anything about.

He didn’t fail to notice Jaemin’s somber expression as he stared at the floor with a loose grip on his broom, though.

+

Since it was very convenient for them to sneak into Jisung’s cabin without any interruption from outside parties, Cabin One soon became a hotspot for sleepovers and other general hangouts, the seven of them dragging sleeping bags into the cabin to accompany Jisung’s lone cot. It was easier on Jisung, Renjun thought to himself, to not have to fall asleep alone (especially with that gods-forsaken giant Zeus statue staring you down.)

Jisung and Renjun grew closer individually too, the two bonding over their semi-nightly strawberry picking sessions and their love for the stars and the universe. It got to the point where Renjun anticipated every moment he would get to spend with Jisung, ready to jump into their next conversation about the constellations currently above them, or what an invading alien species could possibly want from Earth of all planets. With every waking hour spent with Jisung, the spot the younger had in Renjun’s heart grew more and more, until the spot softened and grew warmer, even now, as he thought about his strawberry picking session that would soon happen after his stop to the Aphrodite cabin.

“I just really think Jisung is wonderful. He’s just so easy to talk to, and he’s really cute when he gets shy too,” Renjun said with a wistful sigh as he sat on the side of Jaemin’s bed, where he was busy doing his half-sister’s nails, but still attentively listening as he coated her nails in pale pink polish. “I don’t know why I’m just… so excited to see him everyday, but I am. Even the stuff I found boring before!” Jaemin hummed as he finished the coat on her ring finger, quickly moving onto the final finger, the pinky.

“Mmm, sounds like young love to me…” Jaemin mumbled as he placed the brush of the nail polish atop the pinky, sticking his tongue out as he carefully applied the nail polish. 

“Yah, stop. It’s not like that…” Renjun replied as he playfully, but gently smacked one of Jaemin’s arms, to which he nearly yelled in protest, panicking as he looked at his sister’s pinky finger, sighing in relief when he saw it hadn’t been messed up.

“Who is the son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, in this room?” Jaemin asked without looking up from his nail handiwork. Renjun simply rolled his eyes and got up from the bed, watching as Jaemin finished up his sister’s left hands.

“Whatever, I’m going to go meet Jisung now.”

“You have fun with your little crush, then!”

Renjun could only roll his eyes once again as he exited the Aphrodite cabin and headed in the direction of the strawberry fields, where he knew Jisung would be waiting.

+

The two of them were picking strawberries when Jisung set his basket down for a moment and sat down in the dirt, looking up at the now darkened sky and the dimly twinkling stars. Renjun turned to look at Jisung, then quietly joined him, sitting next to him as they both looked up at the night sky.

"Hey, hyung. Do you ever miss home?"

Renjun turned to look at Jisung. "Home...? Like, back in Jilin?" When Jisung nodded, he glanced down and pursed his lips in thought, thinking about the question for just a moment despite knowing what his answer would be, without a single hesitation in his thoughts. He looked over at Jisung again with a gentle smile, picking a strawberry out of his basket and plucking the leaves off of it.

"Well, when it comes to missing Jilin... I think I miss my father the most, really. And though I miss him a lot... I have a home here now. With Jaemin, Jeno, Yangyang... Chenle, Hyuck, and you too. I hope you can feel the same way eventually." Renjun's eyes sparkled under the moonlight when he smiled and chuckled nervously to himself, worried he'd said too many sappy things. "Sorry for getting all cheesy, I just... really love it here, and I hope others feel the same way as well."

"I do feel the same way," came Jisung's soft reply, not saying much more as he looked up at the stars that thoughtfully twinkled above them, as though they were listening in on the pair's conversation. Renjun couldn't help but think that even Jisung himself was sparkling as he looked up, as though wonderstruck by the distant celestial objects in the sky. "I've never felt more at home."

Renjun resisted the urge to reach out for Jisung's hand that was resting in the dirt, instead humming softly in acknowledgement as he joined him in looking up at the night sky.

+

Renjun spent the next few weeks pondering over his relationship with Jisung as he continued to hang out more and more with him outside of friend hangouts, the nightly strawberry picking now happening every night as the two talked the night away, losing track of time under the moon. He didn't _think_ he liked him like that. After some careful thought, he decided it was too soon to tell, and went about his happy little life at camp without spending another ounce of brain power on the damning thought.

That plan, however, was chucked completely down the drain when he saw the results of their friend group's massive bet during the sword fighting tournament. The tournament had, once again, ended with a victorious Jeno, but had also resulted in Donghyuck dyeing his hair a beautiful golden, with rainbow highlights to accompany the sunny color, and Jisung also dyeing his hair, now having striking yellow highlights in his jet black hair.

The new dye jobs garnered mixed reactions from the group, with Jeno and Yangyang laughing their heads off at Donghyuck, earning them both a slap from the latter, and Chenle admiring both of their new hair. 

"I want to lose a bet so I can dye my hair too now! How was this a punishment?!" Chenle looked between Donghyuck and Jisung as they both sighed and ran a hand through their hair, pushing back the now-colored locks.

"Trust me, my scalp sure is feeling the brunt of the punishment. Also, your sink will be an absolute mess when you dye your hair." Donghyuck rolled his eyes, but didn't seem all that unsatisfied with the dye job, constantly pulling out his phone so he could look at himself in his front camera.

Meanwhile, Renjun simply could not stop staring at Jisung's new dye job. He hadn't even realized he had been standing in the same spot and gawking at him from a close distance until Jaemin waved a hand in front of his face, causing him to blink and nearly stumble back.

"What?" He looked over at Jaemin and tilted his head questioningly.

"Oh, nothing..." Jaemin trailed off with a knowing smile, though there was a tinge of what looked to be sadness hidden behind his bright gaze. Renjun could notice it from a mile away, the same way he could spot Jeno's gentleness behind Ares' aura—hidden, but noticeable if Renjun looked hard enough. His intuitiveness never seemed to fail around his friends, and he wasn't going to let Jaemin's uncharacteristic sadness go unnoticed.

"You alright, Jaem?" Renjun asked quietly as he raised an eyebrow in concern, placing a hand on his shoulder as they stepped a reasonable distance away from the rest of the group, who were thankfully occupied with teasing Donghyuck about his multi-colored hair.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" Jaemin answered, eyes perking up as he smiled wider, wrapping an arm around Renjun as he did so.

“You seem a little off. What’s wrong?” He looked up at Jaemin with genuine worry in his gaze, and that seemed to do the trick as he watched his facade crack just long enough for him to notice the momentary frown that overtook his expression. He sighed as he looked down, shifting in his spot before looking back at Renjun.

“I’m just… being reminded of something from the past. I didn’t want to dampen the mood or anything, so please don’t mind me, okay?”

“Jaem…”

“I’m fine, I promise. Now go shower your dear Jisungie in compliments, I’m sure he’ll absolutely eat all of them up!”

“... Ugh, fine, but I’m coming over later. You’re accepting my hugs whether you want them or not!” Renjun said, looking back at Jaemin as he began to walk back over to where the rest of their friend group were situated, still talking about the dye jobs, much to Donghyuck’s displeasure. Jaemin simply smiled and also began approach the six, watching as Renjun’s face went red upon commenting on Jisung’s hair, with Jisung also sporting a tomato-red face as he nodded and mumbled a thanks back.

“Why would I say no to hugs?” Jaemin responded, chuckling softly and smiling sadly to himself before jogging over to also join the group, immediately jumping into teasing Donghyuck with the rest of them as the seven went on their merry way, cherishing the results of their bet.

+

The camp seemed to buzz with life one early morning when Renjun emerged from the Athena cabin, yawning as he looked around at all of the campers talking excitedly among little groups. Renjun couldn’t help but eavesdrop as he listened to the commotion all around him, leaning against a tree as he crossed his arms and looked around.

“They say that there’s a secret hidden library, and they’ve sent a letter to Chiron asking for help!”

“Do you think he’ll send campers on a quest…?”

“Not after the last time…”

“Do you really think…?”

Renjun blinked at the revelation of new information flooding his ears, suddenly breaking into a jog as he made his way over to the Zeus cabin, where he knew the other six in his friend group would be meeting up later. It had been around a week since the last meetup, considering they had all been busy with preparations for upcoming camp activities.

Renjun, however busy he was, had also intentionally been avoiding thinking about the growing fondness in his heart that swelled every time he even looked in Jisung’s direction. Feelings were a rather indecipherable situation for Renjun to figure out and much too confusing for him to worry about on top of camp activities. But unfortunately, as he tried to distance himself from these feelings, his heart grew to ache much more than it had before.

It was a damning situation to be in, accompanied by the fact that Renjun knew Jisung probably only saw him as a close friend, nothing more. They were much too busy to be worrying about love in the camp, especially when they had weapons to design and powers to control respectively. It was irrational to expect a relationship. He repeated this inside his head multiple times as he pushed open the door to the Zeus cabin, shuffling inside and joining Yangyang, Jeno, and Jisung, who were already inside.

"Renjun! Did you hear about the stuff everyone's talking about?" Yangyang asked as Renjun took a seat on the blanket sprawled across the floor.

"Something about a quest?" Renjun asked, curious as he turned to look at Yangyang, who bit his lip and looked down, worriedly glancing over at the door every now and then. Jeno also seemed a bit concerned, deep in thought as he flicked his tongue out to lick his lip.

"Yeah... We're just worried, because last time Chiron sent campers on a quest, one—"

Jeno was interrupted when the cabin door swung open again, Jaemin hurrying in with a nearly panicked look on his face, with Chenle following behind, twirling a dandelion in his hand, and Donghyuck coming in after the two, completing the group as he plopped onto the ground with a yawn.

"There's no way they're going to send anyone on a quest, right? Not again, no way..." Jaemin buried his head in his hands as Yangyang, who was sitting next to him, reached out to run a hand gently over his back. There was something the four campers who had been at camp for longer than Renjun knew, and from how the air began to hang heavily around them, he assumed it wasn't good.

"Let's just... Let's just wait and see what Chiron says at the campfire. If it's a quest, it's a quest. If we're chosen for the quest, then we're chosen for it. We just... have to be ready for whatever." Donghyuck looked around at all of them, eyes determined as he gave Renjun a look. "We've all been doing pretty well during tournaments and training, so they might have our eyes on us."

"All... of us?" Jeno asked, tilting his head as he awkwardly shifted in his spot on the floor.

"We can't know for sure." Jaemin answered with a deep sigh, breathing in as he squeezed Yangyang's hand, which he had taken in his own. "Let's just go about our day, and wait until campfire to see what Chiron says."

The seven all nodded in agreement at that, but even as they all split off to do their own things, they could not seem to shake off the air of premonition that hung heavily around them. Renjun frowned as he looked at his hand, unsure why it had begun to tremble, his grip on the pen loosening. He shook his head, immersing himself in his work until night fell.

Eventually, the fateful time of the campfire came, and everyone sat amongst their cabin sections, mumbling and muttering quietly amongst themselves as words like _quest_ and _travel_ were thrown around, the chatter continuing on until Chiron held a hand up to silence the gathering of campers.

"I know word's been spread around camp about my next announcement, but I am here to make this information clear so that we all know what is about to happen." Chiron was cool and collected as he stood next to the large campfire, pulling out an envelope lined with gold and opening it, revealing a letter. "We received this letter addressed to the camp on the doorstep of the Big House this morning, with no knowledge of why or how it got here. It seems that the senders are from an ancient library deep underground—and have stated that they house many precious artifacts within the library, some of which have been stolen. They are enlisting Camp Half-Blood's help for this, and would like to receive visitors to help them out.”

The campers were silent as Chiron made his way through the announcement, only the crackling of the fire accompanying his voice as he went quiet for a moment, sighing as though he were preparing himself to say the most in the next minute.

"After much contemplation and discussion with the head counselors, we have decided that we will be sending a trio of campers to embark on a quest to the library next week. The letter also contained a map, and from there the head counselors will help these three figure out the location of the library and guide them on their route there.” Upon Chiron pausing, the audience of campers broke out into a mix of protests and chatter, a wave of murmurs spreading throughout the crowd as the head counselors standing at the front with Chiron attempted to quiet down the commotion so the centaur could continue.

“We have also already decided on the three candidates for the quest,” Chiron continued, gaze sweeping over the quiet crowd that listened on with somewhat dread and anticipation. Renjun could feel that same dread creeping up his back as Chiron spoke about the long periods of consideration he and the head counselors had gone through to make a decision.

Renjun could have never prepared himself for what he had said next, however.

“After much thinking and consideration, we have decided that the candidates for this quest shall be Renjun Huang of the Athena cabin, Donghyuck Lee of the Apollo cabin, and Jisung Park of the Zeus cabin. These three have proven their skills in training, whether it be through strategy or through strength, and have proven that they have what it takes to embark on this quest and return safely. I place my full trust in these three.”

Renjun’s jaw seemed to tremble as he glanced at the looming eyes that surrounded him, a plethora of mixed emotions coming from the gazes of the people who had turned to look at him. He searched the crowd for Donghyuck and Jisung, seeing that they too were in a similar situation, looking around anxiously while the crowd stared on, the mumbling and murmuring nearly deafening to Renjun.

“As we now close this campfire, I’d like to ask Renjun, Donghyuck, and Jisung to meet the head counselors at the Big House to receive more information on the quest, as well as a short briefing. Thank you all for coming out today, and please wish these three well on the quest.” With that, Chiron stepped down from the front of the campfire, and the campers dispersed into the crowd, some walking over and gathering into smaller groups, some walking in the direction of the cabins so they could get some shut-eye for the night.

The campfire burned on, and the flames flickered between orange and blue, reflecting the conflicted emotions of the campers as Renjun stayed planted in his seat, still trying to process the news of the quest. An ancient underground library—it sounded intriguing to Renjun, and piqued his curiosity more than anything, but from how the camp had reacted to the idea of a quest, he wasn’t sure how good of an idea it was anymore. He furrowed his eyebrows, chest fluttering with growing anxiety as he nervously played with the strings of his hoodie.

His thoughts were interrupted when a hand shook his shoulder, and he turned to see Donghyuck, with Jisung following right behind him as the two looked down at him.

“Hey, c’mon. We have to get to the Big House before it gets later than it already is.” Donghyuck had an unreadable expression on his face, his eyes saying more than his mouth did as Renjun got up and looked at him worriedly. He didn’t say much else as the three silently walked over to the Big House, with Renjun unable to even say a word about what just happened.

+

The Big House’s exterior was a warm sky-blue, a contrast to the now deep blue night sky that hung above them. Its interior was lined with peeling floral wallpaper as they made their way down the hallway to where the Aphrodite head counselor, Jaehyun Jung was standing. He bowed his head in the slightest and gestured to the door he had been standing in front of, and the three curtly smiled back and made their way into the room.

Upon entering, Renjun realized this was the rec room of the Big House, spotting the arcade machines and the pool table pushed into the farthest wall, and the ping-pong table directly in the center of the room, where a few of the head counselors were gathered around. They all waved at the three who had entered the room, watching as they either sat down or leaned against the wall.

“Well,” Ten Lee, counselor of the Apollo cabin began, sighing as he sat back in his chair and stared at the papers spread across the table, “I don’t really know how to say this in a way that makes it sound better, but congrats on the quest. Uh… All of us, in one way or another, have our own experience with quests, which is why we’re here to talk about it to you, answer any questions, all that jazz.”

“So why do they depend on us, young, inexperienced campers to do this, rather than the older senior campers who actually know what they’re doing?” Donghyuck asked quite bluntly, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. “This isn’t the first time it’s happened, and all of you know this for a fact.” He directed his cold, hard gaze at the counselors gathered around the table, watching as they all shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Jaehyun, who had taken a seat next to Ten, sighed and placed a hand on Ten’s shoulder, gently squeezing it as though they were having some silent conversation.

“Look. I could give you some bullshit answer, but the real truth of it is that they want their campers to have hands-on experience with quests out in the real world, or something like that. That’s what I think it is, anyway. From what I can see… I think you guys have a pretty tame quest to deal with. Come have a look.” The three of them slowly approached the ping-pong table and peered over at the map Ten had just slapped onto the table.

“So the library’s located somewhere below us, and from what I can tell, the people who sent it marked it right around here,” Ten circled a spot between two vaguely shaped areas on the map, then directed his pen to what seemed to be the camp, “while we’re here. So taking into account the distance, it seems like the library is going to be located somewhere in DC. I think the prophecy will tell us more, though.”

“Oh yeah, the prophecy…” Donghyuck mumbled quietly, looking above them while Renjun and Jisung looked between the counselors and Donghyuck with a confused look.

“So… whenever a demigod has to go on a quest, they have to receive a quest prophecy from the Oracle, who resides in the attic of this house,” Doyoung began, also looking above them as if said Oracle was watching over them. “The prophecy will guide you throughout the quest and foreshadow what will happen while you’re on it.”

“Yep. Usually everything said in the prophecy eventually comes true, one way or another. Kun, can you take Donghyuck, Renjun, and Jisung up to the attic? We’ll need to get the prophecy before we can continue helping them with planning the quest.” Ten turned to Kun Qian, head counselor of the Demeter cabin, who nodded and got up from his chair, motioning for the younger three in the room to follow him. “Kun will take you up to the Oracle, and once you get the prophecy, we can go from there. Good luck!”

The thumbs-up Ten sent their way was anything but reassuring as they followed Kun out of the rec room, down the hall to another mystery that made Renjun’s head spin with anxiousness, walking down the path to what could very well be his doom.

+

The trek to the attic was short, as expected, as there were only a couple of stairs to climb in a four-story house. One last wooden staircase led directly up to the attic, and the quest trio wasn’t all that enthusiastic about ascending the creaky stairs to enter the unknown, mysterious location that was the attic. Kun noticed this tentativeness, and turned to the others with a reassuring smile.

“First time jitters, I totally get it. You’ll be fine, no one will get killed while you’re in there, and I’ll be just outside. You three go on up there, okay? Your father is the god of the Oracle, Donghyuck, so don’t be so scared. It doesn’t bite, trust me.” Kun smiled and stood next to the foot of the staircase, not moving an inch from his spot.

“That’s really not reassuring, but I guess we have to go either way.” Donghyuck sighed and placed a hand on the staircase’s rail, ascending the steps before he could let himself get second thoughts, looking back at Renjun and Jisung when he was at the top and resting a hand on the doorknob. “Are you guys coming or what?”

Donghyuck’s sudden willingness to go through with entering the attic spurred Renjun and Jisung into action, the stairs creaking under their feet as the two made their way up, until they were just behind Donghyuck, shoulders practically shaking with anticipation. Donghyuck took a deep breath, turning the doorknob and opening the door to the ever so elusive attic of the Big House.

Upon a quick sweep of the room that was shrouded in darkness, there seemed to be nothing alarmingly scary. Old dressers, suitcases, and shelves lined the side walls, and on the dressers were collections upon collections of dusty demigod knickknacks—remnants of rusty armor and weathered weapons, jars filled with limbs and body parts of unknown monsters, memorials dedicated to lost demigods, and other such half-blood paraphernalia. Pieces of history and fractured mementos were scattered all about the attic, Renjun realized as they ventured deeper into the room, the wooden boards creaking with every step they took.

“...So, what’s so scary about this place, besides the random monster eyeballs?” Donghyuck asked, looking down at an intact lute on the ground of the attic. 

“Beats me,” Renjun mumbled, moving deeper into the room and peering up at an unlit lantern hanging from the roofboards.

As if on cue after Renjun’s comment, a quiet hissing sound that rapidly began to grow louder made all three of them jump in their spots, their attention now turned in the direction of the single window in the attic, where the sound had come from. Renjun couldn’t even think to describe the horrified feeling that had run down in the form of chills down his spine as he laid eyes upon a withered, mummified corpse dressed in a white puffy dress at the end of the room. This had to be the Oracle, Renjun thought to himself as he slowly backed away, nearly backing into Jisung, whose entire figure seemed to be trembling with fear as they both looked at the Oracle with wide eyes.

Donghyuck screamed, because what else was he supposed to do, and made a run for the door back downstairs, but it slammed closed in his face as green mist began to billow around the well-dressed corpse that sat on the chair at the end of the room. Green mist surrounded the three, and when Renjun closed his eyes and waved a hand in front of him, he nearly felt the air change, as if he wasn’t in a musty old attic anymore. He opened his eyes again, but there was nothing that indicated anything had changed, the green mist only getting thicker as it surrounded the three, trapping them and restricting their movements.

When they began to struggle, a voice rang out through the mist, seeping through their ears and echoing inside their heads, Renjun’s world flashing different shades of green as he struggled to listen to the voice that whispered, shouted, and spoke all at the same time.

_Head south, and descend into the maze of books_

_Deceiving it shall be at every cranny and nook_

_Unexpected allies and foes you may perhaps meet_

_But stray from the path, and you will find what you seek._

The voice seemed to seep in through Renjun’s veins and run shivers through his entire being as it echoed and hissed all around them. By the time he rubbed his eyes to try and get a clear look around him, most of the green mist had retreated back to the Oracle, its long dead figure trembling and sucking in the mist like it was a vacuum, until it all disappeared, and the musty room was silent once again.

“What. The. Fuck,” was all Donghyuck could say once everything had settled.

+

They were quick to exit the attic after that, with Kun barely looking phased by their shaken forms, but still showing concern in the form of shoulder pats as they descended the flights of stairs and made their way back to the rec room. If he had heard Donghyuck’s loud scream or any other part of the fiasco that had happened in the attic, he chose not to comment on it, instead holding the door open for the three to reenter the rec room.

The head counselors nodded upon hearing the prophecy recited to them, making sure they had written it down somewhere before giving the paper, along with the map and all other related documents to them. 

“I don’t think there’s much we can do to help from now, but I have a feeling you guys can figure it out pretty easily,” Ten said, patting all three of them on the shoulder with a smile. Was shoulder patting a head counselor thing? “You’re all smart kids. Make sure to have a solid plan before you leave!”

“And good luck,” Doyoung continued, standing just behind Ten, with Jaehyun at his side as he sent a thumbs-up to the quest trio. “You’ll probably need it.”

“Thank you, hyungs,” Renjun thanked them all with a small bow, earning endearing smiles from them all as Donghyuck and Jisung waved at the counselors, quick to exit the Big House and make their way over to the cabins under the guidance of the twinkling stars.

Donghyuck decided to break the silence as the cabins grew closer and closer. “We leave tomorrow, don’t we? Let’s make sure we have a game plan before we pack.”

The three made their way over to Jisung’s cabin, where they knew no one else would disturb them, and planned into the night, past the signal for curfew, and until the moon was high in the sky. They took a look at the papers and talked away the hours, deducing from the text in the letter that they’d need to head to the Library of Congress in the DC area. The ancient library laid somewhere in wait within the shelves there, Renjun had figured, knowing it wouldn’t easily be available to them. They also pulled up Renjun’s laptop and quickly booked three tickets for the bus, deciding to get that out of the way before they forgot.

“Okay, so we have all that figured out,” Donghyuck said after they bought the tickets, “Let’s go back to our cabins and pack what we need, then maybe try to sleep before we meet in the morning for our last few preparations.”

“I think I have everything…” Jisung mumbled with a yawn, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he glanced over at the lone table in the room, where his lucky ring and most of the papers for the quest rested. “It’s probably better to not bring that much anyway, right?”

“That’s true. Less to carry, less weight in case we need to run from anything.” Renjun resisted the urge to coo at Jisung’s sleepy expression, instead getting up from his spot on the marble floor and gathering his things. “You should probably go and get some sleep, Ji.”

Jisung nodded and also got up from the floor, yawning again and glancing over at the other two. “See you guys in the morning,” he said with a small smile that made Renjun’s heart skip a beat, though he ignored it in favor of waving and shuffling his way out of the cabin, Donghyuck in tow.

“Renjun,” Donghyuck said when they were a reasonable distance from the Zeus cabin, slapping a hand on Renjun’s back as they walk in the direction of their cabins, “I can tell something’s up between you and Jisung.”

Renjun turned to look at him with a confused glance. “What? What are you talking about?”

Donghyuck sighed. “Look, I don’t know what it is, and I don’t want you to think too hard, because I know you’ll retreat into that head of yours, but you’re going to be around Jisung a lot for the quest. So whatever you need to do, just… make sure it doesn’t affect the quest. Got it?” Though his words held seriousness, the look Donghyuck gave him was filled more with concern than coldness.

Renjun chuckled softly in response, unable to deny the nervousness in his chest. “Since when did you become so good at being a leader?”

“Someone has to have their shit together, you know?” Donghyuck said as they approached the Apollo cabin, patting Renjun on the back and smiling at him one more time before disappearing inside his cabin for the night.

+

As Renjun groggily made his way up the steps to the Athena cabin, the sound of a notification chimed from his phone just as he rested a hand on the doorknob. The brightness of the phone screen made him recoil for a moment, and he looked down to see he’d received a text from Jaemin asking him if he could meet him outside. He quickly responded, telling him his whereabouts, then sighed as he sat on the steps of the porch, awaiting Jaemin.

Jaemin arrived fairly quickly, quietly running across the grass in a black hoodie and baby blue pajama pants with bunnies printed on them, sliding onto the step Renjun was sitting on and plopping himself down. One look at his expression told Renjun that something was affecting him, and he had a hunch that it was about the quest in some way.

“What’s bothering you, Jaem?” Renjun asked gently after a few moments of silence. Jaemin’s lip trembled as he looked over at Renjun, shaking his head and taking a deep breath to calm himself.

“I’m… scared. For you, Donghyuck, and Jisung. Quests are… so dangerous, and I—I don’t know if I can deal with losing someone again if one of you doesn’t come back,” Jaemin spoke quickly, voice trembling as he buried his head in his hands, soft, quiet sobs beginning to escape past his lips. He leaned on Renjun, resting his hooded head on his shoulder as his own shoulders rose and fell from held-back sobs.

“Oh, Jaemin…” Renjun practically melted into Jaemin’s touch as he wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace. Comfort wasn’t Renjun’s strong suit, but it was the least he could do for Jaemin, who barely ever cried, who always smiled brightly, who always maintained a smile, even in the worst, most weathered days. “To be honest… I’m scared too. I love it here at camp, you know? I don’t… want to lose this.”

Jaemin nodded, sniffling a little as he wiped his eyes with his hoodie. “Yeah… Mark hyung loved it here too.”

“Mark…? Who’s that?”

“My… uh, he was my boyfriend, I guess,” Jaemin said, sighing as he fiddled with the strings of his hoodie. “He was a son of Poseidon, and he was basically loved by everyone in the camp.” Renjun nodded to show that he was listening, gently rubbing Jaemin’s back, “One day, he was chosen to go on a quest. The prophecy spoke of a ‘child of the sea becoming lost at land.’ They were nervous, but they went on the quest anyway.”

“And…?”

“And the two hyungs who were with him came back… without him. Saying he disappeared without a trace in the worst of their quest. It was a terrible day at camp.” Jaemin’s voice trembled again upon those words, but with Renjun’s reassuring touch, he was able to continue. “Your prophecy didn’t speak of losing anyone, did it? Please… please say it didn’t. I just… I don’t know if I can lose someone I love again. It’s too much.”

“Shhh… Hey, don’t worry. The prophecy didn’t say anything really bad or alarming, okay? It’s gonna be okay. The quest will go smoothly, we’ll secure the library, and we’ll come back to camp safe and sound. All three of us. Okay?” Though Renjun’s words had come out gently, laced with reassurance and comfort, even he himself couldn’t truly be sure of their situation, the looming fear of disappearance overwhelming in his mind. He pushed it to the back of his mind in favor of poking Jaemin’s cheek, to which he smiled at.

“...Okay.” Jaemin pulled back and reached out to grab Renjun’s hands, clasping them in his own. “You have to be careful, okay? Take care of Hyuck and your little Jisungie. Don’t let anything in your way scare you. You’re smart, and I know you’re capable of a lot, Injunnie. So now’s the time to show that!” He ruffled Renjun’s hair, his smile growing wider when Renjun groaned and pushed Jaemin’s hand away from him.

“I know, I know… We’ll be careful and all. I know we have to use our phones less outside so we don’t attract monsters, but I’ll try to update the group chat when I can. Let’s go get some rest now, okay? You’ll see me, Hyuck, and Ji before we leave tomorrow.” Renjun pulled in Jaemin for one more quick hug before pulling back and standing up, the steps creaking below him as he made his way onto the porch, looking at Jaemin, who had also stood up.

“G’night, Jun! And… thanks for talking with me. It means a lot.” Jaemin smiled gratefully up at Renjun, who smiled back.

“Good night, Jaemin.”

+

Getting rest had proven quite difficult for Renjun after he’d finished talking to Jaemin and retreated into the Athena cabin, and most of the night had unfortunately been spent staring up at the ceiling above him, wondering if he would end up just like Mark, gone and disappeared without a trace. He also wondered about Jisung, and if the fluttering in his heart was simply a passing feeling or something more, but quickly moved onto the other buzzing thoughts in his head before his heart burst out of his chest.

So unfortunately, here he was, sleep deprived and approaching the entrance of Camp Half-Blood with a backpack in tow, filled with one novel, the strawberry tarts that he’d made with Jaemin and Yangyang, and his mother’s owl necklace safely tucked into the pocket. Donghyuck, Jisung, and the rest of his friends were all gathered around Chiron, who turned to look at Renjun as he approached.

“Are you three certain that you’ve packed everything you need?” Chiron asked, looking down upon them all as he kept his hands folded in front of him.

“Triple checked with Jisung. We’ve got everything we need.” Donghyuck sent over a thumbs up to Chiron. “And if we don’t have everything, then Renjun has the rest.”

“Then I wish you a safe journey there and back. We will await your return.”

The seven of them exchanged warm hugs, with Jaemin holding onto the three of them a little longer than necessary, and Chenle growing all of them four leaf clovers to keep in their pockets for the trip. Renjun looked back at the four staying behind plus Chiron, who were all waving, as they crossed the border and headed down Half-Blood Hill, smiling as he waved back.

They ventured down the side of the road, towards their first stop for the quest that lay ahead of them, uncertain of their fate, but sure enough they would find their path.


	4. fate

“This honestly feels like National Treasure. I mean, c’mon. We’re heading to the capital of the United States, and we’re going to probably be looking for secret passages in the Library of Congress,” Donghyuck commented as they boarded the bus, putting emphasis on the location as he scrolled through the library’s website. “We’re literally living out our own National Treasure movie!” Jisung shrugged as he slid into a seat next to the window, with Renjun taking a seat next to him, and Donghyuck closely following.

“What the hell is National Treasure?” Renjun asked when the bus began to move, setting his bag between his legs as he glanced over at Jisung, who was quickly sending a text to their group chat before shutting his phone off. 

“You don’t know what National Treasure—you know what, nevermind. You’re from China, it makes sense that you don’t know it, Donghyuck idiot, yeah,” Donghyuck muttered to himself as he exited Safari and also powered off his phone, sighing as he crossed his arms and bounced his leg. Renjun noticed this, and placed a comforting hand on his arm.

“I know you’re nervous, Hyuck. None of us really slept that much before the bus, so why don’t we get some shut-eye now? It’ll probably help keep us awake once we get to DC.” Renjun stole a quick glance at Jisung, who seemed to be in agreement with his statement, then looked back at Donghyuck, who seemed to relax in his seat at the suggestion.

“You’re probably right,” Donghyuck said with a sigh. “Sorry, I think I just have the jitters or something. Let’s all get some rest.” He pulled out a neck pillow and a sleep mask from his bag and put them on, then promptly let his head fall back onto the seat, breaths even as he quickly drifted off into the land of dreams.

“I honestly envy how fast he can fall asleep,” Renjun said to Jisung as he listened to Donghyuck quietly snore, already fast asleep.

“I mean, he is always the first one asleep during sleepovers… I think he could sleep through Yangyang and Chenle screaming at each other once he’s out like that,” Jisung whispered back, leaning forward and looking past Renjun at Donghyuck.

“Well, I’m gonna try and get some rest too. If you’re not well rested, you should try and get some sleep too.” He patted Jisung’s arm, then laid back in his seat, shifting until he found a good position to sleep in, closing his eyes. “Good night, Ji.”

Renjun could only hear the reminiscent mumble of a _rest well, Renjun_ before fatigue and sleep deprivation washed over his body, his eyelids feeling heavy as he drifted off to unconsciousness.

+

When Renjun opened his eyes, he was standing in a library.

The library seemed to stretch out endlessly ahead of him, shelves upon shelves of books standing tall, and Renjun had to crane his neck to see the top of the shelves, looking at the sunlight that washed over the tables. 

Sitting at one of the tables, was a woman. 

She was beautiful at first glance, her beauty almost regal and powerful, as though she were the queen of a distant, faraway kingdom, her presence and aura striking fear in the room. However, Renjun did not seem to feel fear when he looked at her, only the reminiscent feeling of nostalgia. He approached her, and she turned to face him, her stormy grey eyes examining Renjun as though she were picking apart his expressions.

“Renjun, my child.” 

Renjun’s eyes widened, an eyebrow raised as he walked up to her and took a seat across from the woman. “You… Mother?”

Athena smiled warmly, just as warm as the sunlight pouring in through the glass ceiling. “You’ve grown. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, though, so I suppose it is inevitable.”

Renjun tried to push away the excitement of finally meeting his mother after a lifetime of not knowing her in favor of figuring out why exactly she was here talking to him now. “Why… are you here? Can all gods come into their children’s dreams like this, or is it an Athena thing?” He nervously tapped his fingers against the table as he stared across at his mother. 

“All gods can visit anyone in their dreams, it is one of our many powers,” Athena replied, resting her hands on the table. “I’ve come here to… I would not say warn you, but give you words that may guide you on the path to your quest.”

“Warn me? About what? Will something bad happen on the quest?”

“Only time will tell, but you may meet faces that will seem familiar to you, and it is up to you to know who you need to trust. Your heart is wise and true, Renjun, just as mine is. Your heart will know the path that needs to be taken.” Athena stood up from her seat in front of Renjun, her golden armor clinking together as she took a step away from the table, a gentle smile remaining on her face as light flooded the room.

“Wait—” Renjun couldn’t help the way he immediately stood up and reached for her, the quiet longing for a mother figure overpowering every other thought in his mind. Unfortunately for him, the light behind Athena grew brighter and brighter as she gently waved, until Renjun’s world was smothered in a bright white light, and his eyes snapped open.

Renjun blinked in order to get his eyesight back, shifting a bit in his seat and realizing he was still on the bus, his head now leaning against something solid and soft. Upon looking to his right, he realized he had been leaning on Jisung, who seemed to be fast asleep, shoulders rising and falling rhythmically. His eyes widened, and he quickly pulled his head away from Jisung’s shoulder, swallowing as he felt his heart rate rise, the action much too intimate for him to be engaging in, especially with Jisung of all people.

He attempted to calm his heart by looking away from Jisung and out the window at the approaching city of Washington DC outside, failing to notice the way that Jisung’s eyes were just barely open, looking at Renjun who was now leaning away from him as his eyes fluttered closed.

+

Renjun felt a sigh of relief when they finally stepped off the bus, the first part of their quest—the trip there—completed as they stretched and looked around the bus station for a map, not wanting to use their phones out in the open in the case of attracting monsters. Once they located the nearest Metro station, they began the trek there, discussing the best way to go about their quest without using any electronics whatsoever.

“Yeah, as great as the Mist is, I’d rather not have to deal with monsters on top of this library quest we have. I think we should probably head for the Metro if we want to get to the library quickly, though.” Donghyuck stretched his arms and neck as they walked, rolling his shoulders as he looked over at Jisung, who had physically recoiled at the mention of the Metro.

“Isn’t the Metro … underground?” Jisung asked quietly, shoulders tensed as he clutched at his backpack, which he still hadn’t slid onto his back. “I can’t really … use my powers underground, you know…” 

“Don’t worry, I don’t think anything will happen that’ll require us to use your powers down there. Besides, if anything tries to attack us, I’ll make sure they’ll be speaking poems and running for the hills for at _least_ a month.” Donghyuck reassured Jisung by patting him on the back before they descended the stairs to the Metro station, into the darkness of the underground section of Washington DC. Jisung, still hesitant, reluctantly followed, shuffling down the steps and catching up with the other two.

_“I have a bad feeling, but maybe it’s just me…”_ Jisung thought to himself as they made their way over to the map of the Metro lines, attempting to figure out the quickest way to the Library of Congress.

“So Hyuck said that the website said it’s next to the Capitol South station, and we’re… right here,” Renjun said, pointing to their current stop, then trying to make sense of the colorful lines and dots that made up the map, squinting as he tried to figure out which train line they needed to take to get to the station.

“So I guess we take the blue line? Or the silver or orange line, since they all lead to that station, according to the map.” Donghyuck stared thoughtfully at the map, tracing paths with his finger as he glanced from their current station to Capitol South.

“Well, I guess we’re taking the blue line. Let’s go get our tickets.”

After paying for their tickets at the machine and scanning them at the gate, Renjun pocketed his own ticket and glanced back at Jisung, who still seemed wary and hesitant as he looked all around them, seemingly still unsettled about being underground. Renjun’s heart softened, and he paused his walking to make sure Jisung could catch up easily. He placed a subtle hand on his back, comforting, but not too intimate as they made their way over to the blue line’s stop, trying not to think about the way his heart melted in every way for Jisung.

Waiting for the Metro was probably the least painful part of the process, the train eventually whizzing past them before screeching to a stop, the doors making a _ding!_ sound as they slid open and people rushed out. Renjun, who had been letting himself think while waiting, couldn’t shake the bad feeling of premonition beginning to hang over him, some of the factors being that nothing had happened yet, and the fact that Jisung had been nervously fidgeting the entire time they had waited. He ignored the feeling in favor of walking into the train cart, noticing that the seats were quite packed, so he instead opted to hold onto a pole with Donghyuck and Jisung. As the train lurched forward, he let his thoughts wander to the library that laid in wait ahead of them, trying to formulate a solid plan in his head, because who was he if he didn’t have a thought out approach to things?

The train ride to Capitol South station ended up being quicker than Renjun had previously imagined. Unfortunately, no one had budged from their seat, their destination seemingly somewhere farther along the blue line, so he had tried to get used to the feeling of the train stopping every few minutes or so, managing to keep his balance as the trio swayed with the movement of the train.

Eventually, the voice on the Metro’s intercom announced their station, and Renjun let go of the train’s pole in sheer anticipation for their stop, eager to escape from the suffocating underground, quickly growing more and more nervous the longer they stayed. He really couldn’t blame Jisung for it, not when a method of escape was impossible in a Metro car, and especially not when the younger was completely unable to use his powers. The anxiety that something could attack at any moment dominated all other thoughts in his brain, and Renjun remained vigilant as the station finally came into view—he couldn’t be happier when he saw the black sign with white text that said Capitol South out the window.

He was so happy, in fact, that he’d completely forgotten that he’d let go of the train pole, and when the train finally lurched to a stop, he stumbled backwards with a yelp straight into Jisung, who jumped in surprise, instinctively wrapping an arm around his waist to help keep him on his feet. Time seemed to slow momentarily as Renjun looked into Jisung’s wide eyes, his mouth open but no sound coming out.

“I—uh, t-thanks,” Renjun mumbled, feeling his heart beat loudly in his chest as he brushed Jisung’s arm off of him and nodded gratefully at him. He was suddenly reminded of the not-so-fleeting feelings in his chest he felt every time he hung around Jisung as he quickly exited the train, practically throwing himself onto the escalator that would lead them back aboveground, leaving the other two to quickly catch up with him.

“Jun! Wait up a second, will you?” Donghyuck grabbed Renjun’s shoulder, breaths labored as he held him back before he could ascend the last set of stairs leading up to the city. “Gods, what’s got you so eager to go back aboveground?”

“I’m not complaining, honestly,” Jisung murmured as they took the stairs up, his eyes nearly sparkling when he saw the sunlight at the top of the stairs. “Being underground just… gives me a super bad feeling.”

“Ditto, honestly.” Renjun nearly cried for joy when they reached the top of the stairs, exhaling in relief as his heart soared, happy to finally feel the rays of the afternoon sun warming his back once again. “I’m not so sure I want to go down into that ‘ancient underground library’ just yet.”

“Neither do I, but do you see me complaining?” Donghyuck muttered, sighing as he turned on his phone in order to take a glance at the map. “Looks like we’re just a block away from the Library of Congress… We just need to walk down First Street, then turn right on Independence Avenue, but I’m sure we’ll notice it when we get close to it.” He quickly shut off his phone and shoved it back in the pocket of his cargo pants, then adjusted the straps of his backpack before heading off in the direction of the library, Renjun and Jisung closely following behind. 

Renjun’s gaze darted everywhere around them as they walked—up at the buildings, watching the people that passed them on the sidewalk, side glancing the food trucks parked at the curb, even behind Jisung, who looked at him with a confused expression with every glance he stole at him. Paranoia and anxiety had begun to settle within Renjun’s mind, and he was beginning to wonder if he was overthinking the situation, but he couldn’t be, right?

_“There’s no way Donghyuck and Jisung are getting hurt on my watch,”_ Renjun thought to himself, hand resting over the outline of the dagger he kept sheathed in the inner pocket of his jacket. _“They have to get home safely. No one can get hurt, no one will—”_

“Renjun!”

The sound of Donghyuck’s voice ripped Renjun out of his near trance, a hand placed firmly on his shoulder to shake him back in the real world. Renjun looked to his side at Donghyuck, who was looking at him with an expression that showed concern more than anything, with Jisung standing just behind both of them.

“I can practically hear your thinking from here,” Donghyuck began, his tone gentler this time as he retracted his hand. “I get we’re all nervous here. But looking like you’re going to attack anything that breathes in our direction isn’t the solution, okay?” He looked at Renjun, waiting for him to acknowledge his words, watching as he sighed and nodded.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”

With that, the three of them continued their trek down First Street. As they turned down Independence Avenue in silence, Renjun heard the unzipping of a backpack, and upon turning around, he noticed Jisung was rummaging through Renjun’s backpack, tongue sticking out as he searched for whatever he was looking for in his backpack. Renjun slowed his pace so Jisung could continue to sift through the contents of his backpack while walking.

“What are you looking for in there?” Renjun’s question was quickly answered when Jisung finally pulled something out of his backpack—one of the strawberry tarts he’d packed in a plastic bag—and shyly handed it over to him. Renjun looked at it curiously, gently taking it from him and watching as Jisung shuffled his way over his side, playing with the sleeves of his hoodie.

“I figured it’d calm you down a little, maybe…” Jisung’s mumbling was quiet enough that Donghyuck wouldn’t hear, and gentle enough to make Renjun’s heart soar with an unidentified emotion, ignoring the alarms that went off in his head as he smiled gratefully at Jisung and opened the bag, taking a small bite of the tart. Donghyuck looked behind him, watching as Jisung took out another tart from Renjun’s bag for himself.

“Hey, you got extras for the non-lovebirds here?” Donghyuck’s question was enough for Renjun’s face to flare a bright red, grabbing the strawberry tart Jisung had just pulled out and flinging it at him full speed. Donghyuck, who thankfully had quick reflexes, caught the strawberry tart with a hand and laughed to himself as he watched Jisung apologetically bow to Renjun, who simply stuffed his face with the pastry to avoid the embarrassment that had begun to creep up his neck.

“Anyways… That’s the library, right?” Jisung asked as he finished up his tart, wiping his mouth on his sleeve as he looked across the street at the extremely large, old-looking building that seemed to nearly take up an entire block, people flocking in and out of the massive building.

“Yep, that definitely looks like it. It definitely looks like the ancient underground library would be under something that damn big too,” Donghyuck said with his mouth full, spewing crumbs at a dismayed Renjun, who sighed but looked at the library with newfound determination, more than ready to complete their quest and safely return home.

“Now or never, I guess… Are we ready?” Renjun took a step forward, looking behind him to look at Donghyuck and Jisung, who adjusted their backpacks and looked at Renjun with an equally determined gaze, ready to face whatever challenges awaited them inside the library.

“Ready as I can be…” Donghyuck replied.

“… I guess so…” Jisung mumbled.

“Then let’s go.”

And with that, Renjun led the way to the library, crossing the street and walking down the path to the entrance. Only the unknown laid ahead of them, but they knew in their hearts that they would be guided to the right place. They entered the Library of Congress with their path and prophecy clear in their mind, and only each other to lean on.

+

“Oh my gods, this is seriously starting to become like National Treasure!” Donghyuck exclaimed excitedly but quietly over the group FaceTime call they were in, the camera focused mostly on his chin as he looked ahead of him, walking through the aisles of shelves the library had to offer. The three of them had split up in order to cover more ground, using FaceTime as a means of staying in contact in case of any sudden updates, and also to keep a close eye on each other. “I mean come on, we’re literally looking for a secret passage, right? That’s basically the movie—a bunch of secret passages in American-y places and it somehow relates to US history or something.”

“Thanks for educating us on a wonderful movie about this country,” Renjun commented with an eyeroll, looking around at the current section he was in for any indicators that there may be a passageway to an underground tunnel or secret library, finding nothing as he walked along the shelves, closely looking at the titles of the books for any hints but coming up empty.

“Look, if you watched it, you’d understand.” Donghyuck looked down at the camera, sticking his tongue out at Renjun, who returned the gesture. Jisung, who had been diligently searching the entire time, suddenly gasped when he turned to his next section, catching the attention of the other two as his eyes drifted up and down, seemingly reading the titles of the books on the shelves.

“What’s up, Ji?” Renjun asked as Jisung continued to look, a hand held up to his chin in a thinking pose. He pulled a book out, opened the pages, then closed it and put it back, looking back down at his phone. 

“Do you think it means anything if there’s an entire section for Greek mythology…? I figured there would be a section since this is such a big library, but some of these books are even in Greek…”

“What?! Which section are you in? We’ll be right there.”

Jisung texted over the location, and Renjun hung up the FaceTime, immediately heading in that general direction after glancing at a map. He jogged past reading rooms and shelves and rooms that led gods-knew-where on his way, and stopped to catch his breath near an elevator. The elevator chimed as a group of people made their way out. They were likely touring the place, considering there was someone at the front speaking, and they made their merry way down the hall as Renjun leaned against the wall.

One more person got out of the elevator, quiet as her heels clacked along the floor. When Renjun looked up, he nearly gaped in shock at the sight before him, an inexplicable chill immediately rising up his spine as he looked upon the figure that had exited the elevator.

Renjun couldn’t help but think that she didn’t belong in this modern day when he first laid eyes upon her, her layers upon layers of clothing creating a frilly, long dress that looked as if it had come straight out of a Victorian era painting. Her red, wavy hair was held above her head with a flowery-patterned bonnet, and her face was powdered with layers of makeup. At first glance, Renjun could have thought that some sort of costume party was going on, but there was an odd feeling creeping up his spine that told him otherwise.

He immediately got up from where he’d been leaning against the wall, deciding he needed to get to Donghyuck and Jisung now and heading in the direction of the section, jogging even faster this time without making anymore stops.

He arrived at the section without any other weird happenings, peering down the aisles until he noticed Jisung and Donghyuck standing by one of the big encyclopedias set on a pedestal, running in their direction as they looked up.

“Took you long enough,” Donghyuck commented as Renjun caught his breath, resting his head against the shelf next to him as he closed his eyes. “What held you up?”

Renjun had half a mind to say something about the Victorian age-looking woman that he’d seen near the elevator, but the doubt in his mind held him back, and he simply shrugged, looking over Jisung’s shoulder at the section of books the younger had set his gaze on. “So did you find anything out?”

Jisung nodded, pointing at the books in front of them. “This entire row of books is dedicated to important figures within Greek mythology, but that’s not what we’re looking at here.” He pulled a few of the books out, placing them on the floor to reveal a discolored piece of wood on the back of the shelf, slightly more indented than the rest of the wall. The word _library_ in Greek was carefully chiseled onto it, which Renjun processed after a few seconds of looking at it. “We found this while we were waiting for you to get here and… well, I don’t see how this wouldn’t lead to the place we want to go.”

“It’s our best bet,” Renjun said, tracing over the wood curiously before looking around the area. It was silent, and no sounds of footsteps or pages turning could be heard. “Now’s our chance… this must be where we need to go.”

“This is our path,” Donghyuck added on, nodding in agreement as he stepped closer to Renjun, hand hovering next to him over the square of wood.

“Descend into the maze of books… I guess it’s time.” Jisung seemed to catch on quickly, hand coming to rest over the indented wood, his head darting around one more time to check for anybody lingering among the shelves before turning to the older two, waiting for a signal. Upon Donghyuck’s nod, they all pushed on the square of wood, and jumped back when it sank further into the wall, a quiet rumbling sound echoing from behind the wall.

In front of them, the entire shelf retracted itself and disappeared into the wall, revealing a narrow doorway, and a staircase that led to darkness. Renjun stepped closer and tried to peer down to see the bottom, but saw nothing—only more darkness.

The trio looked at each other, then at the doorway, then at each other once more. Donghyuck, ever the brave one, was the first to take a step towards the darkness, descending one step of the stairs before looking back at Renjun and Jisung to make sure they were also following. The two took a step forward, reassuring Donghyuck that they would be right behind him, and down they went, into the unknown, into the darkness, into whatever the ancient library had to offer for them.

They could only descend further and further into the darkness, not knowing what could lie in wait for their futures or their fate.


	5. eternal

Light suddenly appeared in the quite narrow hallway they’d found themselves in—Jisung had turned on his phone’s flashlight, the artificial light illuminating a small expanse of the space ahead of them. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for Renjun to notice the rough, sanded walls and the smooth marble floor below them. The passageway was narrow, just barely wide enough for them to walk forward in a single-file line, but nonetheless, they advanced forward, with three little phone flashlights to light the way.

The familiar rumbling of the shelf echoed through the passage, a sign that the shelf had probably moved and returned to its proper place, ultimately closing the three inside the cramped hallway. Renjun gulped, knowing there was no going back from here.

As they moved forward, slowly but surely, Renjun noticed that one of the lights was trembling—Jisung’s hand was trembling, and Renjun was close enough to him to hear his shaky breaths as he walked. Renjun contemplated reaching out for his hand, his phone flashlight pointed down at Jisung’s free hand swinging back and forth, but he knew the undeniable fluttering of feelings in his heart would return if he let himself get that intimate with his friend, and he absolutely could not afford that amidst this quest.

They continued on in silence, losing track of time as they forged on, Renjun watching as Jisung latched onto Donghyuck’s backpack.

“We’ll reach the end of this at some point… Right?” Jisung’s voice echoed through the passageway despite his quiet tone, peering over at Donghyuck, who turned to look behind him.

“We have to,” Donghyuck answered quietly. “The library’s somewhere ahead of us, I just know it.”

“But it’s like this darkness is endless,” Renjun commented quietly, feeling faint as his gaze drifted downwards at the marble ground below them. “There’s not even any light ahead of us… How are we supposed to know if this is the right way?”

Almost as if on cue, a very, very dim light sparked ahead of the three, their heads perking up as they looked at the light in the far, far distance. It began as a small, grey speck far across the narrow hallway, but as the trio picked up their walking speed, the light grew bigger and brighter as it rushed towards them, flooding the passageway with a blinding white light.

Renjun recoiled and closed his eyes, the light almost searing his eyeballs as he began to feel inexplicably fainter, groggily opening his eyes and looking into the white light once more. It seemed to wrap all around the three, embracing them, and even the passageway shrunk and disappeared within its beam, the only thing left to look at being the world of white all around them.

And when Renjun blinked again, his world of white had become an entirely different world.

+

Renjun rubbed his eyes as he attempted to adjust to the brightness of his surroundings after spending gods-knew-how-long walking in the dark, looking around to make sure Donghyuck and Jisung were still with him. To his relief, they were still next to him, looking just as confused as Renjun. His gaze swept over their surroundings—and with just one look, he didn’t need any kind of book to know where they were.

“This is it,” Renjun said, nearly breathless as he looked around at the white shelves of books that stretched out endlessly ahead of them, with white columns that held up a regally adorned ceiling above them that was painted with all sorts of bright colors, the illustrations depicting legends and tales Renjun was familiar with thanks to Camp Half-Blood—they were the tales of Greek heroes, of Hercules, Achilles, and so much more. Renjun couldn’t even begin to imagine how many legends and stories this library stored.

The overwhelming white of the library was accented by gold that lined the shelves, traced the ceiling in intricate, perfect patterns, framed the large set of doors ahead of them in the distance. Visitors sat on the plush-looking couches placed all around the shelves, talking amongst themselves and sticking their noses in books, while assistants clad in white zipped around, organizing the shelves and speaking with the people who didn’t know their way.

“Oh my gods,” Jisung exhaled, breathless at the sight before them. “It’s so much more beautiful than I thought…”

The visitors seemed to pay the trio no mind, simply smiling and walking around without a care in mind as they wandered throughout the library—but upon a second look, Renjun noticed how much they seemed to stand out, each of them unique to a certain time period. He spotted a woman dressed similarly to the one he had seen just earlier in the Library of Congress, frilly dress and all walking across to talk to a woman laid across a loveseat, a chiton draped over her figure as she held a book in one hand and gently grazed the Victorian woman’s cheek with the other.

Renjun gawked at the sight, spotting more and more people from different time periods the longer that he looked around, blinking as he watched a couple that looked as if they had walked straight out of an American Roaring Twenties movie skip past them, books tucked under their arms as they giggled quietly to themselves.

“How is this… possible? Do you guys see this too?” Renjun remarked in shock, nearly rendered speechless by the entire existence of the library before them.

“Oh, I’m seeing it… I’m seeing it all.” Donghyuck watched, nearly mesmerized as a samurai, dressed in full armor, emerged from the door ahead of them, handing a book to an assistant, who quickly climbed one of the ladders next to the shelves to place it back.

“Welcome to the library, you three! We’ve been expecting you.”

Donghyuck, Renjun, and Jisung all jumped as they heard a voice behind them, immediately turning around to look at what seemed to be one of the assistants, sharply dressed in a white dress with a white blazer pulled over it, and white heels that clicked to pull it all together. She beamed over at the startled three, adjusting her pink hair which had been pulled into a tight ponytail, clapping her hands together as she glanced between all three of them.

“You’re the visitors from Camp Half-Blood, correct? Well, either way, we’re always glad to have new visitors! I’m Yeri, one of the assistants here. My job is to help you in any way possible and make your visit as comfortable and enjoyable as it can be!” Yeri smiled brightly, then looked ahead of them at the visitors who were now entering and exiting through the doorway ahead of them in a busy line. “You’re probably a bit confused right now, right? Well, no need to worry, I can explain everything for you while I show you around. Follow me?”

Yeri walked past the quest trio and started off in the direction of the distant door, the three scrambling to follow her as she pulled open the door for them. Renjun smiled gratefully at her and held up the back of the group, entering the next room of the library. He nearly stopped in his tracks from sheer wonder, looking up at the sight before him with parted lips and wide eyes.

This room was even bigger than the last, with multiple floors leading up to more levels of shelves, and an even larger clearing for those who wished to sit down and lose themselves in a book. Tables, chairs, and couches alike were spread throughout the room, and decorating the walls were countless artifacts—tapestries depicting worldly legends and stories, marble busts of people whose names were written in history, vases that stood proudly on pedestals. The tokens of time were all spread out on pedestals in the room that seemed to stretch on for a mile, and Renjun couldn’t even try to count how many priceless golden objects were situated around him.

“As you can see, this library holds a lot more than just countless years of history,” Yeri began, gesturing to the various pedestals as she walked, “this library serves as a gateway. A gateway for things that have been lost to time… We give those people a chance… and more time. Through this library, objects painted in history can be solid once again. Recently, though…” She paused, stopping to look at something in the distance. Renjun followed her gaze.

“... We have been encountering a bit of an issue.” Renjun followed Yeri’s gaze until it landed on a row of empty pedestals—and he could only assume that something had been there before, judging by the way she had spoken. “Artifacts have been disappearing right before our eyes. We are not in control of that type of thing, nor are we exactly sure of the issue,” Yeri’s hand brushed over one of the pedestals, glittery dust falling from it as she dusted off her fingers. “That is why we have called you here, in hopes that we can prevent this problem from happening.”

“But how can we do that? We don’t even know what’s causing the artifacts to go missing,” Donghyuck was blunt in his questioning, but his expression was wary as he looked at Yeri, who continued to smile as she looked at Donghyuck with sparkling eyes.

“Well, you see, Donghyuck Lee, we’ve prepared something for all three of you so that you could all learn more about the library and hopefully help us in securing it a bit more,” she explained as she turned into one of the wide hallways, gesturing to a tapestry that had been hung at the end of the wall. “This is yours.”

The tapestry, as seen from a distance, was large, taking up a large majority of the wall at the end of the hallway. When Renjun squinted, he very nearly recognized the familiar style of Apollo, as depicted in paintings, reaching out towards the sun while holding a scroll that had been set on fire. Donghyuck seemed to have recognized it too, because all of a sudden, he was walking forward down the hall to get a closer look at the tapestry.

Renjun stepped forward to follow Donghyuck, but was stopped by a gentle hand on his shoulder. He turned back to see Yeri’s smiling face beaming at him, lowering her hand as she looked at Donghyuck, who had broken into a jog to look at the tapestry above him.

“He will be alright. Why don’t you two come with me? We can come back here once you two have seen the things we’ve prepared for both of you. Not to fret, Donghyuck will be safe in the hands of the assistants, and I’m sure you two know he is capable of taking care of himself.”

Renjun couldn’t exactly deny Yeri’s words, so he simply sighed and turned away from Donghyuck and the tapestry, Jisung following suit as the two followed Yeri deeper into the large room. He watched as she turned down another smaller hallway and turned to make sure the two were still following her. She stopped at a table with a stack of books set atop it, a lightning symbol engraved on the spine of each book.

“This is what we’ve prepared for you, Jisung Park,” Yeri spoke, holding up one of the books with perfectly manicured hands, “a complete collection about your heritage and what you get to expect from being a child of Zeus. We also found a book or two about your mother—”

“My… my mother? Where?” Jisung’s head shot up at the mention of his mother, looking at Yeri with wide eyes as she smiled and pointed at a shelf not far from where the three were standing.

“I believe you’ll find what you’re looking for on the third row of the left shelf there.”

Just like that, Jisung ran off, disappearing behind the shelves before Renjun could even open his mouth to stop him. There was a sinking feeling of fear that had begun to settle within Renjun’s mind, and whether unreasonable or not, he knew he had to be careful—and make sure Jisung and Donghyuck knew they needed to be careful too. Nonetheless, Yeri smiled at Renjun, motioning for him to come follow her. He took a deep breath, keeping note of the dagger in his hoodie (just in case) and following her further down the hall.

They turned into yet another wide corridor, this one identical to the others, with the similar white shelves and gold lining, and tables set up throughout the room. Stacks of books laid on each table, and a few visitors were spread throughout the place, either with their faces buried in a book or talking with someone else.

“Of course, we also have everything you need, Renjun Huang,” Yeri commented as she led Renjun to a table, where an array of books sat on the table. When he glanced at the covers, he noticed the books were things he had always wanted to read or research more, but never had the time or resources to. “You see books that you’ve always wanted here, right?”

“This book of ancient weapon designs… How did you get it?” Renjun picked up one of the larger books and flipped through it, finger carefully tracing over the pencil marks, marveling at the beautiful sketches of intricate weapon designs—a dagger with poison woven into its blade, a sabre with jagged edges and a curved handle, the year near the signature of the artist listed as 450 B.C. He felt faint from how unbelievable it was to be holding such an old, timeless book full of designs that may have never seen the light of day, and wanted nothing more than to take it for himself.

“We have everything you could desire here at this library, Renjun.” Yeri’s smile remained yet still, hands folded in front of her. “Anything you could need for a comfortable stay—we have it here.”

“I suppose… but I think that the thing that would give me the most comfortable stay would be if I were with my…” Renjun trailed off into silence when he looked up from the book, noticing Yeri had completely disappeared from sight, nowhere to be seen. He looked around the tables, the shelves, and even dared to look down some of the aisles, but there was no one. In fact, even the visitors seated at some of the tables had completely disappeared, leaving Renjun in dead silence and complete solitude. A horrible feeling overtook Renjun, his chest panging with confusion and fear as he walked away from his pile of books and looked around for any signs of life.

But nobody was there.

He tried to remember the direction he had come from, but every corridor and hallway looked the exact same, and every larger room looked the same—even the artifacts that sat on pedestals looked the same. He pushed down the feeling of panic that had risen in his chest and swallowed thickly, pulling out his phone on the off chance that there was cell signal inside the library so he could call Donghyuck and Jisung.

When he switched on his phone, his shoulders sank in disappointment at the lack of signal. He didn’t really expect a magic library to have signal, but it didn’t prevent him from being disappointed at the fact. Something stood out to him, though—he vividly remembered having entered the passageway leading to the library around 3 PM, but despite however long they’d spent in the library, the phone clock read out 3:04 PM. He waited and waited, but it didn’t change. _The clock was frozen._

“No way…” The slow realization inching into Renjun’s mind caused another wave of dread to wash over him, frantically praying that the clock would move forward. His head swiveled around, searching desperately for a clock, but the conclusion in his mind was clear, and something in his mind, an invisible force, almost confirmed the conclusion in his head.

“It’s not just a gateway… This library… is stuck in time. _It’s frozen in time_ ,” Renjun whispered, breathless at the conclusion he’d come to.

“Oh my gods, I have to get out of here— _we_ have to get out of here,” Renjun immediately pushed past a chair that had been pulled out in his way, the chair screeching across the marble floor as he grabbed his backpack and ran back in the direction of the main room. _“Oh gods, Donghyuck and Jisung—they need me, I can’t let them—”_

“Is there anything you need help with, Renjun?”

Renjun stopped before he could crash into the assistant that had appeared in front of him, then looked up and laid eyes upon a boy he'd never seen in his life.

An air of familiarity washed over him as he looked at the boy despite never having met him before now. He looked to be about Renjun's age, perhaps a bit older, and had a warm, friendly smile painted across his face. His eyes sparkled with kindness, and his tanned skin spoke of years spent on the beach, and Renjun was close enough to him that he could tell his windswept black hair smelled like the sea.

"Renjun?" He was clad in all white, like most of the assistants in the library, and the sleeves of his white button-up shirt were pushed up to his elbows. He looked down at Renjun with a friendly gaze, waiting for an answer—but Renjun was caught in the clutches of familiarity, attempting to figure out where in the world he'd seen this man before—he gave up, deciding that being polite was better than straight up ignoring the assistant while lost in his thoughts.

"Yes, that's me... Well, I do have a bit of a problem..." Renjun paused, contemplating whether or not he should ask the assistant about the real pressing problem at hand, or lie and have the assistant take him somewhere else while he brainstormed a way out of the library.

"Do you know where my friends are? I'd like to reunite with them, if possible." Finding Donghyuck and Jisung was his main priority for now, and was also probably a safe bet so as not to alarm the assistant that Renjun had realized something was up about the library.

"Yeah! I can totally show you over to them," the assistant smiled, and Renjun's chest nearly shrank with relief as he smiled gratefully at the angel of an assistant in front of him. "Just follow me and we'll get you over to them, okay? My name is Minhyung, by the way." He began walking towards the entrance to a larger area, and Renjun followed closely behind, adjusting his hoodie and pocketing his phone, staying aware of his surroundings and taking note of anything that stood out while Minhyung guided him.

"Thank you, Minhyung." Renjun still could not shake the odd feeling that Minhyung was someone that he _knew_ , but he was sure he had never met someone like Minhyung in his life—he probably would have known if he had. There was something about him that seemed to draw Renjun to him, a subconscious feeling in his mind that wanted to get closer to him.

He followed Minhyung into the vast expanse of the library that lay ahead of them, suddenly understanding the line in the prophecy about descending into the maze of books. The library truly was a labyrinth of shelves and aisles, looking the exact same with every turn they took, and he wondered how Minhyung could so easily navigate it—Renjun couldn't even begin to imagine how long you would have to be in here to learn to navigate such identical rooms.

All thoughts pushed aside, Renjun forged on with the hope that he'd be reunited with Donghyuck and Jisung soon, and that they would figure out some way to get out of here.

+

Jisung had come to the ultimate conclusion that he had been tricked.

After a lifetime of looking through the shelves for the so-called book that held information about his mother, he had come up empty-handed, with no book about his mother, and no Yeri in sight to help him. Even when he looked around for someone, there seemed to be no one in the current room he was in, the emptiness eerie to Jisung, who felt a chill run up his spine.

He swallowed hard, breaking into a jog as he looked past the dizzying amount of shelves that lay ahead of him, and it was silent enough that Jisung swore he was beginning to imagine the books taunting him, beckoning him closer. He took a few more cautious steps in the direction of the shelves, the sound of whispers suddenly audible in the air as he drew closer. He grew more and more mesmerized with each step, walking among the books that whispered in his ear, closer to the source of the whispers.

He stopped when the whispers hushed themselves, and found himself in front of a very large book, similar to an encyclopedia one would find on a pedestal at the library. On the front, the words Book of Truth were engraved within the cover, and when Jisung approached, the book flew open, causing a cloud of dust to fly into the air.

When Jisung recovered from his sneezing fit, he looked ahead at the pages that flipped by themselves in a flurry, until it reached a blank page near the middle. Words began to scrawl themselves in black ink at the top of the page, to which Jisung squinted to get a better look at in order to read it.

_The son of Athena, wise and honest as the goddess herself, finds himself caught in a whirlwind of emotion and denial when he lays eyes upon the child of Zeus. Though his heart wants to follow the child, he distances himself, and although it hurts, he forges on, knowing that it is for the better, for him and the spawn of Zeus._

Jisung blinked at the paragraph that had been written in front of him, finding the story odd and quite coincidental, but also feeling awkward that he was reading such a personal piece of text. _"Renjun is a son of Athena, I'm a child of Zeus... It must just be a coincidence, though. Right...?"_ He looked down at the page again, and noticed more words had been added just below the paragraph he'd read.

_Lost in his mind, and lost in the infinite expanse of the frozen sands of time, the son of Athena succumbs to the timeless library, and lets himself be lost forever within a broken, fragmented memory._

A feeling of dread overtook him, and though he knew it was probably just coincidental that this son of Athena highly resembled Renjun, he couldn't help the alarms that went off in his head, unable to shake off the feeling that something was horribly, horribly wrong.

So he ran. He ran and he ran, away from the book, away from the shelves and into the next room, and the next, and the one after that, desperate to find Renjun before it was too late.

+

Donghyuck was frankly quite exhausted.

He had been calling out for the other two when he had come back to his senses and realized that Yeri had gone off and taken Renjun and Jisung to another area, running off in the direction he had hoped they'd gone in too. He had, unfortunately, come up empty-handed, with not even another soul in sight—no other assistants, no other visitors, nothing.

Donghyuck didn't like being alone.

"Renjuuuun! Jisuuuuung! If you're out there, give me a holler back, will you? We shouldn't have separated so soon, sorry for getting so distracteeeed!" His shouts echoed across the vast halls, his breaths shaky as he looked everywhere, the solitude nearly crushing him as he frantically searched and searched among the shelves.

But there was no one.

“Renjun? Jisung?” Donghyuck’s voice was quieter, no longer yelling as he looked around him at the shelves of books that stretched up unimaginably high, almost hearing noise in the silence of the library—Donghyuck, desperate to find _someone_ , held onto the noise that took the form of whispers that breezed by his ear, growing quieter and louder as he wandered through the shelves, looking around him.

 _“Your friends are gone”_ was the first audible sentence he heard from the gaggle of whispers in the air around him. _“You’re all alone,”_ they continued. “ _You’ll be safe here in the library. You won’t be lonely. Your friends won’t leave you.”_

“Ugh, shut up! Do you enjoy telling lies to your visitors or something?” Donghyuck bit back at the voices that whispered in his ear, running to the end of the aisle and turning the corner to try and escape the walls of books, but nearly stopped in his tracks when he saw Jeno and Jaemin just six feet ahead of him.

“Jen? Jaem? What are you doing h…” He trailed off when he saw the smiles set on both of their faces, their gazes fond as they leaned in close, their foreheads nearly touching as they shared a kiss, short but sweet, pulling away to look straight at Donghyuck with a smug expression.

_“Can’t you see? You’ll be alone if you go back,”_ the voice returned, manifesting in Jaemin’s form as he spoke, his eyes glowing a bright golden as he smiled brightly, though there was a sinister glint in his eyes—creating an unsettling expression on Jaemin’s face. 

_“Your friends are leaving without you,”_ “Jeno” whispered, pointing at something behind Donghyuck. When he turned around, he saw Renjun and Jisung, their hands intertwined as they walked away from the shelves and smiled at each other. Donghyuck ran to try and reach out for their shoulders, but they dissolved into golden dust that shimmered before his eyes. He turned back to the fake Jeno and Jaemin, but no one was there. 

_“Stay with us, and we won’t abandon you,”_ the voice yet still continued as Donghyuck ran through aisles and past shelves, shoving his way past ladders and chairs that stood in his way as he entered a different hallway. His limbs ached from running around so much, and his lungs screamed for a break, but Donghyuck pushed on despite it. He pushed on despite the lingering thought that he truly may have been left behind, and he pushed on despite the whispers that invaded his brain.

“Well, too bad for you, I have a home to get back to. A real home with friends that I know won’t abandon me.” Donghyuck turned once more and shouted at the ceiling, standing his ground as the whispers wisped all around him, before dissipating as he untensed his shoulders, exhaling as he felt peaceful silence wash over him.

“Jeez, I think I prefer the silence over whatever the heck that was,” Donghyuck mumbled to himself as he ran into another smaller hallway, finally stopping to catch his breath and placing his hands on his knees. “I still have to find Jun and Sung…”

Footsteps echoing loud and clear across the hallway snapped Donghyuck out of his thoughts as he stood up straight and rigid, hiding behind a table in case it was an assistant chasing after him. His heart nearly soared when he saw the familiar brand of Renjun’s sneakers walking across the marble floor, a pair of perfect white dress shoes walking alongside them. He slowly rose from under the table, the top of his head just barely peeking over the top as he peered over at Renjun and the assistant following him—but once again, his body went stiff as his eyes went wide, gaze focused on the assistant who had his back to Donghyuck. 

“Oh my gods…” Donghyuck stood up, a hand covering his mouth as unintentional tears welled up in his eyes, finding himself breaking into a run as he ran after Renjun and the assistant, who smiled and talked like everything in the world was normal, when it was certainly not.

“It’s Mark _fucking_ Lee.”

Not when _he_ was here.

+

Renjun’s trek through the library with Minhyung had been long thus far, and he was beginning to wonder if Minhyung even knew where his friends were at this point. They had talked and talked for a long time about the stars, the sea, the library, and so much more, and eventually Renjun had lost track of how long they’d been talking—Minhyung was terrifyingly easy to talk to, albeit a little awkward, and compared to Yeri, who had acted borderline robotic around him, Minhyung was definitely a breath of fresh air.

“Minhyung, since we’re on the topic of the library… How are you able to navigate so easily through it? Did you study a map?” Renjun hoped his question had come off as subtle and not as him trying to figure out a way out of the library, and he watched as Minhyung thought on the question for a moment, his nose scrunching as he contemplated the question.

“The library… lays itself out differently for each visitor,” Minhyung began, a comfortable smile set on his face as he folded his arms and rested his hands on the back of his neck, “its magic bends the library to cater to each visitor’s needs, and makes it so that your stay’s the most comfortable it can be. C’mon, we have to get going,” he motioned for Renjun to follow him, walking in the direction of a large door lined with gold in the distance.

“I’m still wondering where Donghyuck and Jisung are. We should have found them by now, right? Do you really know where they are, Minhyung?” Renjun looked at Minhyung skeptically, staying planted in his spot as Minhyung froze, before smiling ever so gently, as if he were looking upon a newborn baby sleeping peacefully.

“... Your friends are gone, Renjun. Your place is here with us in the library. I think you’d look great in white, y’know,” Minhyung replied to his question with that same friendly, gentle smile, holding his hand out for Renjun to take. Renjun looked down at his hand, then back up at Minhyung—at his beach-tanned skin, at his brown eyes with smaller specks of gold, at the side swept, jet black hair that barely fell in front of his face. 

“Follow me, and you’ll be able to experience this library for all that it is—all of the knowledge you could think to have, right at your fingertips. Wouldn’t you love to have that, Renjun?”

“I would, I think…” Renjun mumbled to himself in a moment of weakness, feeling inexplicably lightheaded and distant as he reached out for Minhyung’s hand, hesitating for just a few moments until he reached out and took it, gently clasping his hand in Renjun’s as he pulled him along.

“Let’s go, then,” Minhyung replied, his eyes shimmering with gold as he walked forward towards the golden door in front of them. Renjun, seemingly in a daze, simply let himself be tugged along, gaze set down to the marble floor below them as he slowly felt his eyelids grow heavier with each step he took. 

_My path… The path…_

“Mark. Lee. If you don’t get your hands off of Renjun _right now_ , we’re going to have more than just problems.”

A voice broke through Renjun’s daze, and he blinked himself awake and turned to see Donghyuck, eyes bloodshot and gaze nearly seething angry as he clenched his fist, then unclenched it. Thoughts rushed back into Renjun’s mind as he looked between Donghyuck and Minhyung, who had let go of Renjun’s hand to look blankly at Donghyuck. His mind connected the dots.

Before him was not a library assistant named Minhyung, but _Mark Lee_ , son of Poseidon, loved by everyone at camp, missing for two years. _A child of the sea lost at land._

Donghyuck surged forward in Mark’s direction, and anything Renjun could have done in that moment would not have stopped his hand striking Mark’s face, a definitive slapping sound echoing through the hall as Donghyuck looked at Mark, who caressed his cheek with a shocked expression.

“You fucking bitch! You go missing for two goddamn years and suddenly you turn up in this place, this—this goddamn evil magic library, trying to brainwash Renjun?!” Tears streamed down Donghyuck’s cheeks as he spoke, his mind seeming to go through a plethora of different emotions as he held back a sob. “Do you know how heartbroken Jaemin is everyday because of you?! Do you know how much he cried the day Jaehyun hyung and Ten hyung came back without you? And the weeks—no, _months_ after that? Gods be damned, I would totally strangle you right now if I wasn’t so fucking happy to know you were alive!” 

Mark grimaced with each sentence Donghyuck shouted, and it took Renjun practically smothering him with his arms for him to finally stop heaving with sobs, slowly calming down as Mark stood in his spot for more than a few moments, staring and blinking at the ground then looking up at both of them.

“Uh… Donghyuck? What… What are you doing here? Why are you yelling at me? Oh gods, did I do something again?” When Renjun and Donghyuck looked at Mark this time, he no longer sported a robotic smile or perky eyes—instead, he wore an utterly confused expression, his eyes wide and his irises no longer showing any hints of gold as he looked around, then looked down at his clothes. “Jeez, why did this library give me such a lame wardrobe?”

“Mark…? Is it… is it you now? Like… for real?” Donghyuck questioned quietly, almost skeptical of the way Mark was currently acting, as if his “assistant Minhyung” personality would return at any moment. 

“Of course, Donghyuck. Why wouldn’t it be me?” Mark chuckled softly, and to Renjun it sounded like music in his ears. Mark’s smile felt reminiscent of the summer, bright and warm, and he could almost sense the sea everytime he looked at him.

“Oh my gods, _Mark_ …” Donghyuck’s voice trembled as he pulled away from Renjun and threw himself into Mark’s arms, embracing him tightly and burying his head in the crook of his shoulder. They sat there for a while, rocking back and forth as they relished in the happiness of being reunited again. “Do you even know what happened?”

“Man, uhhh… The last thing I remember before I came to the library was me telling Jaehyun hyung—oh… Oh shit, Hyuck… Hyuck, how long have I been gone?” Mark pulled back, looking at Donghyuck with a horrified expression, and he shook his head 

“Did you not hear me earlier? Two years. You were gone for two years, Mark.”

“Shit. Gods… Jaemin… Oh my gods. We have to get out of here.”

“We do,” Renjun piped up from the side, slinging his backpack over his shoulder as he looked at Mark. “Sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt the reunion or anything, but I’m Renjun Huang. Camper for one year, Cabin Six. We have to find Jisung before we do anything else, but do you happen to know the way out?” Renjun introduced himself quickly and curtly, holding a hand out to Mark.

“Mark Lee, Cabin Three. Camper for four years. I… I think I know the way out, I just have to remember—yes, I remember!” Mark took Renjun’s hand and quickly shook it, his eyes lighting up when he recalled something in his head. “All my memories of the library are super fuzzy, but I think I can find us a way out of here.” He held two fingers from each hand to his temple, closing his eyes in concentration, formulating a plan in his head. He opened his eyes again, watching as Donghyuck pulled one of the letters from the library out of his backpack and ripped it apart to pieces.

“Alright. We have to find your friend before anything. Remember, this library’s magic is always gonna cater to you, so if you think really hard about what you want, it’ll give it to you.” He looked expectantly at both Renjun and Donghyuck, then above him at the ceiling, colorful and vibrant. He looked at the two again once they were situated and ready.

“Let’s go.”

+

Renjun was the first to spot Jisung after what seemed like a lifetime of searching through the endless library, finding him wandering among the shelves, glancing at seemingly blank books in a daze. His eyes darted across the page as if he were reading a story, despite the pages of the book being blank. 

Emotion welled up in Renjun’s chest, and he ran faster in Jisung’s direction, practically throwing himself at him and tackling him into a hug, wrapping his arms around him as Jisung dropped the book he was holding, shocked by Renjun’s sudden appearance, but not unwelcoming of the tight embrace the older had thrown him into.

“Oh my gods, Ji, we finally found you…” Renjun couldn’t find it in him to let go of Jisung just yet, his fists clutching at the fabric of his hoodie as he breathed in the familiar smell of his clothing—the faint smell of strawberries still remaining in the fabric.

“Renjun, Hyuck, I… I’m so sorry for leaving, I thought—”

“It’s okay.” Renjun shushed him with a finger to his lips, quickly pulling away and placing his hands on his shoulder. “What matters right now is that we have to get out of here. Mark knows a way out.” Jisung peered over at Mark, who popped up from just behind Renjun and managed a small little wave.

“Okay… Let’s go.”

And off they went, the four of them staying close together as Mark led the way, constantly closing his eyes and looking up at the ceiling, seeming to be in his own world as he guided them through the labyrinth of a library. Eventually, the library began to show signs of life once again, assistants watching them in momentary confusion as they ran past, tilting their heads in the slightest as they politely smiled despite the panicked hustle of the four.

The hallway they were running down came to an end, and for a moment, Renjun wondered if Mark had tricked them, but Mark held a hand up in front of him, yanking a teal colored book out of the shelf, watching as it triggered a response, the shelf rumbling as it moved to the side and revealed a doorway similar to the one they had entered through, this time leading straight into darkness instead of descending into it.

There was no time for hesitation this time around, and they all quickly piled through the narrow doorway, breathing heavily as the shelf closed with a rumble behind them. Renjun fumbled around for his phone in the darkness, but was stopped by Mark’s voice.

“Wait! Don’t use any light. We have to keep going without using any light. Hyuck, you’re behind me, right? Just hang onto my shirt or something. Same goes for you guys. Don’t let each other go.” Mark’s voice was loud and clear in the darkness, his voice serious as he took charge and began walking forward. Donghyuck held onto Mark’s arm, while Renjun blindly reached out to grab onto Donghyuck’s backpack.

A warm hand suddenly enveloped Renjun’s as they moved forward in the darkness, and despite not being able to see, he knew Jisung’s big warm hands by heart, so he intertwined their fingers and squeezed gently, hopefully calming the other's nerves as they ventured further into the unfamiliar darkness. For once, he did not mind the tender intimacy that came with physical contact. Instead, he cherished Jisung’s touch, holding onto his hand like it was his red string that connected him to his world.

He didn’t plan on letting go anytime soon.

+

After ages of walking forward, forging on and on in the darkness, Renjun began to feel his senses clear up, becoming sharper with every step he took. He hadn’t even noticed he’d felt so distant during the visit, but he now felt invigorated as he took a deep breath, clearing his mind as he breathed in, light filling up the corners of his vision as he exhaled. The light expanded until it engulfed the entirety of the narrow corridor, and once again, Renjun’s world was flooded with light as he closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, he was standing in the Library of Congress. 

The four of them groaned as they adjusted to their bright surroundings, making sure they had everything they had left with. Renjun glanced over at Mark, who no longer donned the white wardrobe of the library’s assistants and instead sported a blue and brown sweater with the sleeves rolled up, with brown shorts and sandals to accompany it. A beaded necklace now dangled around his neck, with four unique beads to signify his time at Camp Half-Blood.

“Haha, whoa… Now this is definitely more Mark Lee,” Mark commented as he looked down at his outfit, dusting off his new shorts. His marveling was short-lived, however, because Donghyuck quickly captured him in another half-tackle, half-hug, wrapping himself around Mark like a koala as he jumped into his arms. Mark carried him just like that for a few moments, Renjun and Jisung watching the spectacle with an indifferent expression. They were pretty used to Donghyuck’s expressions of affection, after all.

“Seriously, fuck you for disappearing for so long. I fucking love you, Mark. Don’t ever do that again,” Donghyuck said between sniffles as he hopped out of Mark’s arms, the four beginning to make their way back to the entrance. Mark smiled and chuckled softly to himself, running a hand through his hair as he looked over at the angry sunkissed boy.

“It’s nice to be back, Hyuck.”

+

When they arrived outside, they saw it was nighttime, the city still bustling with some life as cars passed by and street lights illuminated night owls who were going about their evening, likely heading home from work or making their way up to a club.

“We probably should be getting on the bus back to Long Island, shouldn’t we?” Renjun asked, waiting for his phone to finish powering back on. Donghyuck’s eyes went wide, and he quickly scrambled to check the time and date on his now powered-on phone, only to sigh in relief when he laid eyes upon his home screen.

“Oh, thank gods. Date is the next day, 3:04 AM. I thought we were in there for so much longer, but not much time passed.”

“Yeah, for you guys. It’s really been two years for me, huh…” Mark held a hand to his mouth, taking a deep breath as he sighed, exhaling a puff of air as he contemplated the fact for a couple of moments. "Felt like longer than that, if I'm being honest..."

“We… definitely have a lot of catching up to do. C’mon, let’s go get Mark an extra ticket for the bus, and catch him all up on the way there.” Donghyuck smiled before slapping a hand on Mark’s back, the four of them walking in the direction of the bus to take them home. Jisung inched closer to Renjun, wrapping his arms around him as he tried to seek warmth within the coolness of the night. Renjun, who was also cold, didn’t mind the contact at all, clinging onto Jisung’s arms as they walked.

They were going back home, safe and sound.


	6. timeless

The bus ride back to camp went by uneventfully, the trip mostly consisting of Donghyuck catching Mark up on every single significant detail at camp he’d missed in the past two years, including but not limited to: Yangyang stealing a pool noodle from Mark’s closet, Jaemin winning an archery competition, and many more memories that happened before Renjun had come to camp, and then some. Needless to say, Renjun had learned a lot about Mark and his relationship with his friends by the time the bus had screeched to a stop, dispensing the four at the Long Island bus stop and leaving them with a cloud of exhaust fumes to cough in.

“Gods, well… Guess we’re taking a cab back?” Donghyuck commented.

The short taxi ride left them at the edge of the strawberry fields, and Renjun nearly collapsed from relief upon seeing the fields of green ahead of them, dotted with small spots of red Renjun simply wanted to pick from the stem and eat right then and there. They all seemed to share the same growing excitement as they joined hands, running up Half-Blood Hill, past the shimmer of the Mist, and taking off in the direction of the camp’s borders.

A camper stationed near the entrance spotted them almost immediately as they made their way up the hill, grabbing the horn set in the grass and blowing it for as long as he could to signal the return of the quest trio. His eyes sparkled when he saw Mark, despite his expression screaming shock and disbelief.

“Oh my gods, Mark Lee? Is that really you?” The camper, Shotaro Osaki from the Nike cabin, looked up at Mark in complete astonishment, holding his hands up to his mouth.

“Sho! It’s been so long, gods. Have you grown taller?” Mark smiled as he slung an arm around Shotaro, ruffling his hair and earning himself protests and giggles from the younger. Shouting and whooping could be heard from across the grass as Jaemin ran like lightning, Yangyang, Jeno, and Chenle doing their best to follow closely behind.

“All of you, you’re back! Oh my gods, I was so worried when you all didn’t text for an entire fourteen hours, but I’m so glad tha—” He stopped in his tracks when he laid eyes upon Mark, who shyly lifted a hand to wave at Jaemin. He stumbled in Mark’s direction, steps staggered as his lips parted in shock, the world seeming to slow before him. 

“Mark… hyung…?” Jaemin asked, almost in disbelief, reaching out to gently touch Mark’s cheek as though he were a trick of the Mist, meant to disappear at a mere touch.

“It’s me, Jaem,” Mark replied quietly, smiling as he placed a hand over Jaemin’s, carefully caressing it as he stared at him with fond eyes. Jaemin, however, pulled his hand back and promptly slapped him, then threw himself into his arms, burying his face in his shoulder as sobs overtook his body. 

“My gods, Mark, you have no idea how much I’ve missed you—I thought you were _gone_ , I thought…” Jaemin’s entire body shook with sobs as Mark gently rubbed his back, rocking him back and forth as a means of soothing him while he cried, emotions billowing forth as he cried and cried, sobbing all of his emotions away as he held onto Mark.

Soon enough, the rest of their friend group also joined Jaemin, dogpiling Mark and hugging him so hard he nearly forgot that he’d been gone for so long—the feeling of nostalgia was nearly overwhelming in his chest, and for all he knew, this—this feeling of everyone you knew and loved embracing you, _this_ was his home. 

This was where he was meant to be.

+

Word of Mark’s return spread around quickly as expected, and soon, Mark was busy immersing himself in camp activities, inhabiting the Poseidon cabin once again and returning to his position as a head counselor, reuniting with Jaehyun and Ten for a long night of catching up, reassurance, and comfort.

Chiron had organized a grand celebration to honor the quest trio as well as Mark’s return, congratulating Renjun, Donghyuck, and Jisung on completing their quest—although they hadn’t accomplished what they initially thought the quest would consist of, they had identified the library as a danger and brought back Mark, who was easily more valuable than anything they could have brought back. So in the end, they had strayed from the path, but had brought forth something—rather, someone treasured by all.

Before Renjun knew it, a week had passed since their return to camp, assimilating back into their activities rather quickly despite being given a day’s break to rest and recover from the trip. He quickly absorbed himself in gauging Mark’s skill, finding out Mark was indeed loved by everyone in the camp—not just for his personality, but also for his all-rounder set of skills and talents. He emerged from archery practice exhausted and aching, bidding Donghyuck goodbye as he made his way over to Cabin Six to get some shut-eye early for once in his life, no longer burdened by his usual distractions.

His plans, however, seemed to be foiled when he stepped onto the porch of the Athena cabin and saw Jaemin standing in front of the door with crossed arms. Mark stood just next to him, mimicking Jaemin’s post with a small smile set on his expression. Renjun laughed when he saw the two, taking the time to slip his gloves off before going inside.

“Very cute, you two. Now please move so I can go inside and get some sleep,” Renjun said, trying to push his way past Mark and Jaemin with futile efforts. The two stood their ground, not budging from their spot in front of the door as they looked at Renjun with an expectant look. Renjun threw up his hands in the air exasperatedly, rolling his eyes as he indulged in their game.

“Fine, I’ll bite. What do you guys want from me?”

“You realize that after that whole quest, you can’t really deny or avoid your feelings anymore, right? At least, not while I’m here standing at this door.” Jaemin rolled his neck and smiled sweetly at Renjun, whose shoulders sank at the mere thought of his feelings for Jisung. “Oh, don’t give me that! I'm not blind, you know! I saw how you two looked at each other after you guys returned. You really think he doesn’t like you after _all that_?”

“Yes…?” Renjun answered hesitantly, looking up at Jaemin, who buried his head in his hand for a moment, then looked up at Renjun with a determined, fiery stare.

“You know what, I'll just say it. I’ve already texted Jisung and told him that you wanted to meet out at the strawberry fields. So! Either you go down there and confess to Jisung right now or I drag you over to the strawberry fields myself. I’m not dealing with you leaving the minute Jisung steps into the room anymore.”

Renjun sighed, knowing this outcome had been expected, and that he'd only been delaying the inevitable for as long as possible. “Okay, jeez, fine. Gods—when did you get so bossy?”

“Ever since Markie came back,” Jaemin replied with an angelic smile, wrapping his arms around Mark as he kissed him on the cheek, a blush slowly spreading across Mark’s cheeks as he grinned from ear to ear. “Now go!” He spun Renjun around and sent him stumbling down the steps of the porch, to what very well may be his imminent doom. 

Renjun made his way over to the strawberry fields, grumbling about how adamant Jaemin had been about sending him over, making an attempt to emotionally prepare himself to confess to Jisung about many months of feelings he’d held back from him. So much avoidance had happened between the time he’d realized his feelings for Jisung were a little more than friendly and now, and he wasn’t sure how exactly he was supposed to feel prepared for an exchange like this.

Nonetheless, he continued on, anxiety swirling in his chest as he skipped down Half-Blood Hill and walked across the rows of strawberry plants, spotting Jisung sitting on a small patch of grass in the middle of the field, looking up at the stars that gently twinkled above them, shining as bright as they could in the middle of New York.

“Hey,” Renjun greeted Jisung as he sat next to him, looking up at the dimly glimmering stars that shined above them.

“Hi,” came Jisung’s reply as he scooted over so Renjun could have more room on the patch of grass, looking to his side as he watched Renjun situate himself on the grass.

Silence followed, the two of them simply taking the time to appreciate the plants around them and the stars above them. Renjun grew more and more nervous as he looked to the sky, at the stars that would always remain despite everything. 

Even if the world crumbled, even if Jisung rejected his confession, the stars would still remain, timeless as they watched from the distance—never able to touch the Earth, but always watching over it, and over him too.

It was because of this that Renjun took a deep breath and began to speak. “Ji… I have something to tell you. If you don’t feel the same way, this never happened—but I guess I kind of hope you’d feel the same way.” Jisung turned to look at him with curious eyes, his head tilted as he listened closely to Renjun, nodding to get him to continue.

“I…” Another deep breath. “I like you. I have for a while, and not just as a friend. I like you a lot, and I understand if you don’t like me ba—”

Renjun was cut off by Jisung’s finger placed atop his lips, prompting him to quiet down and listen as Jisung began to speak. “No, I… I feel the same way, Renjun. I like you too. I’ve never felt this way for anyone before.”

“What…? I…” Renjun blinked, trying to figure out if his ears had heard right. He rubbed his eyes and pinched his arm, convinced he was living out a dream, but the pinch stung his arm and the cold breeze slipped past his face, blowing through his hair and causing him to shiver. He subconsciously leaned closer to Jisung, whose face now rested inches from his.

“Can I?” Jisung asked simply, eyes flickering to look down at Renjun’s lips, his face illuminated by the moonlight as he nodded, eyes fluttering shut when Jisung leaned in close and connected their lips. 

The kiss lasted barely a few seconds, but to Renjun, it conveyed a lifetime of feelings that ran cool over Renjun’s skin and swam throughout his mind. He held a hand over his lips when he pulled away, as if cherishing the fleeting, lingering taste of Jisung’s lips on his.

“I really didn’t think you liked me back…” Renjun’s voice was barely above a whisper when he spoke again, as though he was afraid of what Jisung would say next, chuckling breathily to himself when he realized that yeah, Jisung liked him back. He wasn’t kidding, and he had just kissed him to prove it.

Jisung raised an eyebrow, “Even after all the subtle hints I dropped…? You know, for a child of Athena, you sure do have a weird thinking process.”

Renjun smiled and leaned in closer, clasping the collar of Jisung’s shirt in his hands. “Well, I’ll think more about it from now on,” he said before leaning in to close the gap between their lips once again under the watchful night sky.

And they’d lose themselves time after time again as they kissed under this same night sky, despite whatever obstacles came their way—because even if the world fell apart at the seams, the stars would still remain timeless within the sky, and Renjun and Jisung would still remain under the stars within each other’s arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading this adventure of a fic to the end! i'd love to know your thoughts, so feel free to let me know what you think in the comments or in my twitter/cc!!  
>   
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/strdusting)  
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/stilldreaming)


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